trtip 


J 


JOSEPH    SMITH,  Jr.,  THE    "PROPHET. 


The  True  Origin 


The  Book  of  Mormon 


* 


CHARLES  A:  SHOOK 


Author  of 

CUMORAH  REVISITED, 
THE  TRUE  ORIGIN  OF  MORMON  POLYGAMY 


I 

TLc  nature  of  tbe  message  in  tne  Book  of 
Mormon  is  suck  tnat,  if  true,  no  one  can  pos- 
sibly be  saved  and  reject  it;  if  false,  no  one 
can  possibly  be  saved  and  receive  it.  Therefore 
every  soul  in  all  tne  world  is  equally  interested 
in  ascertaining  its  truth  or  falsity. 

— Orson  Pratt, 


Cincinnati,  O. 
The  Standard  Publishing  Co. 


Copyright,  1914 
THE  STANDARD  PUBLISHING  CO. 


Illustrations 


PAGE 

JOSEPH  SMITH,  JR.,  THE  PROPHET Frontispiece 

TITLE-PAGE  OF  PALMYRA  EDITION  OF  THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON  . .  8 

HYRUM   SMITH 22 

TITLE-PAGE  OF  COWDERY'S  TRACT 50 

SIDNEY  RIGDON 119 

PARLEY  PARKER  PRATT 127 

"HILL  CUMORAH" 135 


Contents 


CHAPTER   I.  PACE 

The  Rise  of  Mormonism — The  Historical  Outline  of  the 
Book  of  Mormon— The  Proposition  Stated I 

CHAPTER   II. 

The  Character  of  Joseph  Smith — The  Affidavit  of  Peter  In- 
gersoll— The  Affidavit  of  Willard  Chase— The  Affidavit 
of  William  Stafford— The  Affidavit  of  Isaac  Hale— The 
Signed  Statements  of  the  Citizens  of  Palmyra  and  Man- 
chester, New  York — The  Mormon  Attempt  to  Exonerate 
Smith  16 

CHAPTER   III. 

The  Three  Witnesses  to  the  Book  of  Mormon— David  Whit- 
mer — Martin  Harris — Oliver  Cowdery 39 

CHAPTER   IV. 

The  Life  of  Solomon  Spaulding — Spaulding's  Roman  Story 
— The  Fairchild-Rice-Smith  Correspondence — A  Mormon 
Lie  Nailed 62 

CHAPTER  V. 

Mrs.  Davison's  Boston  Recorder  Letter— The  Quincy  Whig 
Reply— Mrs.  McKinstry's  Affidavit 78 

CHAPTER  VI. 

The  "Manuscript  Found"— Its  Identity  with  the  Book  of 
Mormon  Established — The  Testimony  of  John  Spaulding, 
Martha  Spaulding,  Henry  Lake,  John  N.  Miller,  Aaron 
Wright,  Oliver  Smith,  Nahum  Howard  and  Artemus 

Cunningham  94 

vii 


viii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  VII.  FAGS 

The  Testimony  of  Other  Witnesses— Joseph  Miller— Ruddick 
McKee — Abner  Jackson — The  Mormon  Admissions  of 
Genuineness — The  Disclosures  of  J.  C.  Bennett 103 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Rigdon's  Connection  with  the  Spaulding  Romance — His  Re- 
lations with  J.  Harrison  Lambdin — Suspected  of  Stealing 
the  Manuscript — Exhibits  the  Manuscript — Foretells  the 
Coming  Out  of  the  Book  of  Mormon 116 

CHAPTER   IX. 

Rigdon's  Connection  with  Smith — The  Pretended  Conversion 
of  Rigdon — Rigdon's  Previous  Visits  to  Smith — The 
Mormon  Alibi — Katherine  Salisbury's  Affidavit 126 

CHAPTER   X. 

Internal  Proofs  from  Spaulding's  First  Manuscript  that  He 
Was  the  Author  of  the  Book  of  Mormon — Both  Found 
under  a  Stone — A  Great  Storm  at  Sea — The  Great  Spirit 
—The  Revolution  of  the  Earth— The  Use  of  the  Horse— 
The  Manufacture  of  Iron — High  Priests — The  Seer- 
stone  155 

CHAPTER  XI. 

Mormon  Objections  Answered — Size  of  the  Book  of  Mormon 
— Style  of  the  Book  of  Mormon — Character  of  the  Book 
of  Mormon— Smith's  Inability  to  Produce  the  Book  of 
Mormon — The  Challenge  to  Produce  the  Original  Man- 
uscript— The  Character  of  Hurlburt  and  Howe — Sup- 
posed Contradictions  in  the  "Manuscript  Found"  to  the 
Book  of  Mormon — Conclusion 167 


Foreword 


From  the  year  1834  to  the  present,  the  majority  of 
anti-Mormon  polemics  and  writers  have  held  to  the  view 
presented  in  these  pages  that  the  Book  of  Mormon  is 
nothing  more  than  Solomon  Spaulding's  "Manuscript 
Found,"  revamped.  Now  and  then  one  has  been  found 
who  has  doubted  or  denied  this  theory,  but,  generally 
speaking,  it  is  the  impregnable  rock  upon  which  the  anti- 
Mormon  forces  have  taken  their  stand. 

Having  been  raised  in  the  Reorganized  Mormon 
Church,  I  was,  from  boyhood,  taught  that  this  claim  is 
a  myth ;  that  the  "Manuscript  Found"  had  come  to  light 
in  Honolulu,  Hawaiian  Islands,  in  1884,  and  that  it  bears 
no  resemblance,  whatever,  to  the  Book  of  Mormon.  The 
influence  of  this  training  followed  me  even  after  I  had 
apostatized,  and  for  some  years,  in  papers  read  before 
ministerial  associations  and  elsewhere,  I  denied  the 
Spaulding  theory  and  attributed  the  Book  of  Mormon 
to  the  joint  work  of  Joseph  Smith  and  Oliver  Cow- 
dery.  In  this  position  I  was,  later,  confirmed  by  read- 
ing the  book,  "Doctrines  and  Dogmas  of  Mormonism," 
by  D.  H.  Bays  (1897),  whose  views,  I  found,  coincided 
exactly  with  my  own.  It  was  not  until  a  copy  of  A.  T. 
Schroeder's  little  booklet,  "The  Origin  of  the  Book  of 
Mormon,  Re-examined  in  Its  Relation  to  Spaulding's 
'Manuscript  Found/  "  fell  into  my  hands  that  I  began 
to  see  the  strong  points  in  the  Spaulding  theory  which  I 
had  overlooked.  Becoming  convinced  from  the  reading 
of  Schroeder's  arguments  that  there  was  more  to  the 
Spaulding  theory  than  I  had  supposed,  I  set  myself  to 
the  task  of  collecting  and  analyzing  the  evidences  with 

is. 


x  FOREWORD 

the  result  that  I  am  as  satisfied  to-day  that  the  Book  of 
Mormon  originated  in  the  brain  of  Solomon  Spaulding, 
the  dreamer  of  Conneaut,  as  I  am  that  "Thanatopsis" 
originated  in  the  brain  of  Bryant  or  "Evangeline"  in  the 
brain  of  Longfellow. 

The  Mormons  have  not  treated  the  position  of  their 
opponents  fairly  in  this  controversy.  They  have  started 
out  by  assuming  that  the  Honolulu  manuscript  is  the 
"Manuscript  Found,"  and  then  have  asserted  that  those 
who  oppose  them  claim  that  the  Book  of  Mormon  came 
from  it.  But  this  is  not  true.  From  1834,  every  op- 
ponent of  Mormonism,  who  has  given  due  consideration 
to  the  evidences  in  the  case,  has  differentiated  between 
the  manuscript  discovered  in  Honolulu  and  the  "Manu- 
script Found,"  denying  that  the  Book  of  Mormon  came 
from  the  former  and  claiming  that  it  came  from  the 
latter.  The  effort  of  the  Mormons  to  confuse  the  public 
mind  on  this  point  is  strongly  suggestive  of  the  tactics 
of  the  ink-fish,  which,  finding  itself  pursued  by  the  enemy 
and  in  sore  straits,  emits  an  inky  fluid  in  order  that  it 
may  escape  under  its  cover. 

Already  the  claim  has  been  made  that  my  books  have 
been  written  with  the  view  to  lining  my  pockets.  In 
closing,  I  wish  to  brand  this  accusation  as  absolutely 
false.  Not  one  cent  of  profit  or  royalty  from  the  sale  of 
this  book  will  find  its  way  into  my  wallet.  The  money 
and  labor  expended  upon  it  have  been  expended  wholly 
in  the  interests  of  truth  and  not  with  the  thought  of  re- 
muneration. Having  become  convinced  myself  that  the 
Book  of  Mormon  is  a  monstrous  fraud,  I  have  felt  it  my 
duty  to  present  to  the  world  the  evidences  which  con- 
vinced me  of  this  fact.  Hence  this  book. 

CHARLES  A.  SHOOK. 

EDDYVILLE,  Neb.,  Jan.  i,  1914. 


The  True    Origin  of  tke 
Book  of  Mormon 


CHAPTER   I. 

The  Rise  of  Mormonism — The  Historical  Outline  of  the  Book 
of   Mormon — The   Proposition   Stated. 

Joseph  Smith,  the  Mormon  prophet,  was  born  in  the 
village  of  Sharon,  Windsor  County,  Vermont,  December 
23,  1805.  He  was  the  fourth  of  ten  children  and  was 
reared  in  poverty,  ignorance,  bigotry  and  superstition. 
When  he  was  ten  years  of  age,  his  father  took  the  family 
to  western  New  York,  where  they  settled  at  Palmyra, 
in  Ontario  (now  Wayne)  County,  four  years  afterward 
removing  to  the  village  of  Manchester,  a  few  miles  dis- 
tant. 

In  the  year  1820,  Joseph  became  very  much  interested 
in  religion  through  the  revivals  that  were  conducted  in 
Manchester  by  the  Methodists,  Presbyterians  and  Bap- 
tists, and,  being  somewhat  perplexed  to  know  just  which 
sect  to  join,  he  decided  to  petition  the  Lord  for  enlight- 
enment. So,  retiring  to  the  forest,  he  made  the  matter 
the  subject  of  prayer.  While  he  was  praying,  the  Father 
and  the  Son  appeared  to  him  in  vision,  told  him  that  he 
must  join  none  of  the  existing  sects,  that  their  creeds 
were  an  abomination,  and  that  their  professors  were  all 
corrupt.  When  Joseph  related  this  vision  to  one  of  the 
Methodist  preachers  in  his  neighborhood,  the  preacher 
told  him  that  it  was  all  of  the  devil  and  that  there  are 


2  THE   TRUE  ORIGIN   OF 

no  such  things  nowadays,  they  having  ceased  with  the 
apostles. 

Joseph  received  his  second  vision  on  the  evening  of 
September  21,  1823.  According  to  his  account,  he  had 
retired  to  bed  and  had  betaken  himself  to  prayer,  when 
his  room  was  lighted  with  a  heavenly  light  and  a  person- 
age stood  before  him  who  gave  his  name  as  Moroni.* 
Moroni  told  Joseph  that  he  had  come  from  the  presence 
of  the  Almighty ;  that  there  was  a  work  for  him  to  do ; 
that  his  name  should  go  out  among  the  people  for  both 
good  and  evil,  and  that  there  was  a  set  of  gold  plates 
deposited  which  contained  an  account  of  the  former  in- 
habitants of  this  continent,  and  with  them  two  stones, 
called  the  Urim  and  Thummim,  by  means  of  which  they 
were  to  be  translated.  The  following  day,  Joseph  re- 
paired to  the  spot,  which  he  had  seen  in  vision  and  which 
was  on  a  hill  near  Manchester,  where  he  found  the  plates 
as  represented.  His  description  of  their  depository,  the 
manner  of  their  burial  and  the  events  that  occurred,  is 
as  follows: 

Convenient  to  the  village  of  Manchester,  Ontario  County, 
New  York,  stands  a  hill  of  considerable  size,  and  the  most 
elevated  of  any  in  the  neighborood.  On  the  v/ect  side  of  this 
hill,  not  far  from  the  top,  under  a  stone  of  considerable  size, 
lay  the  plates  deposited  in  a  stone  box.  This  stone  was  thick 
and  rounding  in  the  middle  on  the  upper  side,  and  thinner  toward 
the  edges,  so  that  the  middle  part  of  it  was  visible  above  the 
ground,  but  the  edge  all  around  was  covered  with  earth. 
Having  removed  the  earth  and  obtained  a  lever  which  I  got 
fixed  under  the  edge  of  the  stone  and  with  a  little  exertion 
raised  it  up,  I  looked  in  and  there  indeed  did  I  behold  the 
plates,  the  Urim  and  Thummim,  and  the  Breast-plate,  as  stated 
by  the  messenger.  The  box  in  which  they  lay  was  formed 
by  laying  stones  together  in  some  kind  of  cement ;  in  the  bottom 


1In  the  first  account  of  this  angel  visit,  the  angel's   name   was  given 
Nephi. 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  5 

of  the  box  were  laid  two  stones  crossways  of  the  box,  and  on 
these  stones  lay  the  plates  and  other  things  with  them. 

I  made  an  attempt  to  take  them  out,  but  was  forbidden  by 
the  messenger  and  was  again  informed  that  the  time  for  bring- 
ing them  forth  had  not  yet  arrived,  neither  would  until  four 
years  from  that  time;  but  he  told  me  that  I  should  come  to  that 
place  precisely  in  one  year  from  that  time,  and  that  he  would 
there  meet  with  me,  and  that  I  should  continue  to  do  so  until 
the  time  should  come  for  obtaining  the  plates.  Accordingly  as  I 
had  been  commanded,  I  went  at  the  end  of  each  year,  and  at 
each  time  I  found  the  same  messenger  there,  and  received  in- 
struction and  intelligence  from  him  at  each  of  our  interviews 
respecting  what  the  Lord  was  going  to  do  and  how  and  in  what 
manner  his  kingdom  was  to  be  conducted  in  the  last  days. — 
Church  History  (Josephite),  Vol.  I.,  p.  16. 

In  the  month  of  October,  1825,  Smith  hired  out  to  a 
Mr.  Josiah  Stoal,  or  Stowell,  of  Chenango  County,  New 
York,  who  took  him  to  Harmony,  Susquehanna  County, 
Pennsylvania,  and  set  him  to  work  digging  for  a  lost 
silver  mine.  During  this  time,  he  boarded  with  a  man 
by  the  name  of  Isaac  Hale,  and  became  deeply  in  love 
with  his  daughter,  Emma.  The  Hales  were  very  much 
opposed  to  his  suit  on  account  of  his  habits,  and  so  he 
finally  eloped  with  Emma  and  was  married  to  her  at  the 
house  of  Squire  Tarbill,  in  South  Bainbridge,  Chenango 
County,  New  York,  January  18,  1827. 

On  September  22,  following,  Smith  received  the 
plates  from  the  hands  of  the  angel,  being  told  that  he 
would  be  held  responsible  for  their  safe-keeping,  and 
that  if  he  let  them  go  through  carelessness  or  neglect  he 
would  be  cut  off.  Joseph  soon  observed  the  need  of 
caution,  for  no  sooner  did  his  neighbors  hear  of  his  pre- 
tensions than  they  began  all  manner  of  persecutions.  This 
made  it  necessary  for  him  to  leave  Manchester,  where  he 
had  been  living  since  his  elopement,  and  he  removed  to 
the  home  of  his  wife's  parents  in  Harmony,  Pennsylvania, 


4  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

being  assisted  in  a  financial  way  by  Mr.  Martin  Harris, 
a  wealthy  farmer  from  near  Palmyra,  who  gave  him 
fifty  dollars. 

Apostle  Parley  P.  Pratt  gives  us  the  following  de- 
scription of  the  plates  and  the  Urim  and  Thummim  by 
which  they  were  translated: 

These  records  were  engraved  on  plates,  which  had  the  ap- 
pearance of  gold.  Each  plate  was  not  far  from  seven  by  eight 
inches  in  width  and  length,  being  not  quite  as  thick  as  common 
tin.  They  were  filled  on  both  sides  with  engravings,  in  Re- 
formed Egyptian  characters,  and  bound  together  in  a  volume 
as  the  leaves  of  a  book,  and  fastened  at  the  edge  with  three 
rings  running  through  the  whole.  This  volume  was  something 
near  six  inches  in  thickness,  a  part  of  which  was  sealed.  The 
characters  or  letters  upon  the  unsealed  part  were  small,  and 
beautifully  engraved.  The  whole  book  exhibited  many  marks 
of  antiquity  in  its  construction,  as  well  as  much  skill  in  the 
art  of  engraving.  With  the  records  was  found  a  curious  instru- 
ment, called  by  the  ancients  the  Urim  and  Thummim,  which 
consisted  of  two  transparent  stones,  clear  as  crystal,  set  in  two 
rims  of  a  bow.  This  was  in  use  in  ancient  times  by  persons 
called  seers.  It  was  an  instrument  by  the  use  of  which  they 
received  revelation  of  things  distant,  or  of  things  past  or  future. 
— A  Voice  of  Warning,  p.  73. 

In  the  month  of  February,  1828,  Martin  Harris  came 
to  visit  Smith  at  Harmony,  and  obtained  from  him  a 
transcript  of  characters  from  the  plates,  which  he  took 
to  New  York  and  submitted  to  Dr.  Mitchell  and  Pro- 
fessor Anthon,  two  learned  linguists  of  that  city,  for 
their  examination.  Harris  afterwards  declared  that  An- 
thon pronounced  the  characters  to  be  Egyptian,  Assyrian, 
Chaldaic  and  Arabic,  and  said  that  Smith's  translation 
was  correct,  more  so  than  any  he  had  before  seen  from 
the  Egyptian.1 


1  Anthon  afterwards  positively  denied  making  any  such  statement,  and 
raid:  "This  paper  was,  in  fact,  a  singular  scrawl.     It  consisted  of  all  kinds 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  6 

Harris  returned  to  Palmyra,  arranged  his  business 
and  then  came  to  Harmony,  where  he  began  to  write  for 
Joseph.  Between  April  12  and  June  14,  1828,  he  suc- 
ceeded in  writing  116  pages  of  foolscap,  which,  with 
Smith's  permission,  he  carried  home  to  Palmyra  to  read 
to  his  wife.  This  manuscript  came  up  missing,  and  it 
afterwards  leaked  out  that  Mrs.  Harris  in  a  rage  had 
burned  it.  For  his  carelessness,  Harris  lost  his  place  as 
Smith's  scribe  and  Joseph  was  told  that  he  need  not 
translate  that  portion  of  the  record  again.1 

The  work  of  translation  was  now  interrupted  until 
April  15,  1829,  when  Oliver  Cowdery  appeared  on  the 
scene.  He  had  been  a  schoolteacher  in  the  Smith  neigh- 
borhood in  New  York,  and,  hearing  of  Joseph's  claims 
from  his  parents,  he  had  come  down  to  Harmony  to  visit 
him.  On  the  I7th  of  April,  following,  the  work  of  trans- 
lation was  resumed,  and  continued  without  further  in- 
terruption until  it  was  completed.  David  Whitmer  gives 
the  following  description  of  the  manner  in  which  the 
plates  were  translated: 

I  will  now  giye  you  a  description  of  the  manner  in  which 
the  Book  of  Mormon  was  translated.  Joseph  Smith  would  put 
the  seer  stone  into  a  hat,  and  put  his  face  in  the  hat,  drawing 
it  closely  around  his  face  to  exclude  the  light;  and  in  the 
darkness  the  spiritual  light  would  shine.  A  piece  of  something 

of  crooked  characters  disposed  in  columns,  and  had  evidently  been  pre- 
pared by  some  person  who  had  before  him  a  book  containing  various 
alphabets.  Greek  and  Hebrew  letters,  crosses  and  flourishes,  Roman  letters 
inverted  or  placed  sideways,  were  arranged  in  perpendicular  columns,  and 
the  whole  ended  in  a  rude  delineation  of  a  circle  divided  into  various 
compartments,  decked  with  various  strange  marks,  and  evidently  copied 
after  the  Mexican  Calendar  given  by  Humboldt,  but  copied  in  such  a  way 
as  not  to  betray  the  source  whence  it  was  derived." — History  of  Mor- 
monism,  p.  271. 

1  "Behold,  I  say  unto  you,  that  you  shall  not  translate  again  those 
words,  which  have  gone  forth  out  of  your  hands;  for,  behold,  they  shall 
not  accomplish  their  evil  designs  in  lying  against  those  words." — Doctring 
and  Covenants,  3:  6. 


«  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

resembling  parchment  would  appear;  and  on  that  appeared  the 
writing.  One  character  at  a  time  would  appear,  and  under  it 
was  the  interpretation  in  English.  Brother  Joseph  would  read 
off  the  English  to  Oliver  Cowdery,  who  was  his  principal  scribe, 
and  when  it  was  written  down  and  repeated  to  Brother  Joseph 
to  see  if  it  was  correct,  then  it  would  disappear,  and  another 
character  with  the  interpretation  would  appear.  Thus  the 
Book  of  Mormon  was  translated  by  the  gift  and  power  of  God, 
and  not  by  any  power  of  man. — Whitmer's  Address,  p.  I2.1 

On  the  1 5th  of  the  following  month,  John  the  Bap- 
tist appeared  and  ordained  Smith  and  Cowdery  to  the 
Aaronic  priesthood,  after  which,  by  the  Baptist's  com- 
mand, they  baptized  and  reordained  each  other. 

Soon  after  Smith's  arrival  in  Harmony,  he  formed 
the  acquaintance  of  Peter  Whitmer,  of  Fayette,  Seneca 
County,  New  York,  and  in  the  month  of  June  following 
his  ordination,  Whitmer's  son,  David,  came  to  visit  him 
and  urgently  invited  him  to  accompany  him  home  and 
remain  until  the  translation  should  be  finished.  Smith 
acceded,  and  from  this  time,  until  their  apostasy  in  1838, 
the  Whitmers  were  among  his  staunchest  friends  and 
most  devoted  disciples. 

During  the  course  of  the  translation,  it  was  ascer- 
tained that  the  Lord  intended  to  provide  three  special 
witnesses  who  were  to  have  the  privilege  of  viewing  the 
plates.  Almost  immediately  after  this  discovery,  Oliver 
Cowdery,  David  Whitmer  and  Martin  Harris  requested 
Joseph  to  inquire  of  the  Lord  if  they  might  not  be  these 
special  witnesses.  Joseph  did  so,  and  through  the  Urim 
and  Thummim  received  a  favorable  answer,  upon  which 
they  all  retired  to  the  forest,  where,  after  fervent  and 

1  If  the  characters  were  interpreted  for  Smith  upon  the  seer-stone,  upon 
what  principle  was  he  a  translator?  Would  not  this,  also,  make  the 
Almighty  responsible  for  every  grammatical  and  rhetorical  error  in  the 
book?  If  not,  why  not? 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  7 

humble  prayer,  the  plates  were  shown  to  them  by  the 
angel.    Their  testimony  follows : 

Be  it  known  unto  all  nations,  kindreds,  tongues,  and  people, 
unto  whom  this  work  shall  come,  that  we,  through  the  grace 
of  God  the  Father,  and  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  have  seen  the 
plates  which  contain  this  record,  which  is  a  record  of  the  people 
of  Nephi,  and  also  of  the  Lamanites,  their  brethren,  and  also 
of  the  people  of  Jared,  who  came  from  the  tower  of  which 
hath  been  spoken;  and  we  also  know  that  they  have  been  trans- 
lated by  the  gift  and  power  of  God,  for  his  voice  hath  de- 
clared it  unto  us:  wherefore  we  know  of  a  surety,  that  the 
work  is  true.  And  we  also  testify  that  we  have  seen  the  en- 
gravings which  are  upon  the  plates;  and  they  have  been  shown 
unto  us  by  the  power  of  God,  and  not  of  man.  And  we  declare 
with  words  of  soberness,  that  an  angel  of  God  came  down 
from  heaven,  and  he  brought  and  laid  before  our  eyes,  that  we 
beheld  and  saw  the  plates,  and  the  engravings  thereon;  and  we 
know  that  it  is  by  the  grace  of  God  the  Father,  and  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  that  we  beheld  and  bear  ^record  that  these  things 
are  true;  and  it  is  marvelous  in  our  eyes,  nevertheless,  the 
voice  of  the  Lord  commanded  us  that  we  should  bear  record 
of  it;  wherefore,  to  be  obedient  unto  the  commandments  of 
God,  we  bear  testimony  of  these  things.  And  we  know  that  if 
we  are  faithful  in  Christ,  we  shall  rid  our  garments  of  the  blood 
of  all  men,  an^  be  found  spotless  before  the  judgment-seat  of 
Christ,  and  shall  dwell  with  him  eternally  in  the  heavens. 
And  the  honor  be  to  the  Father,  and  to  the  Son,  and  to  the 
Holy  Ghost,  which  is  one  God.  Amen. 

OLIVER  COWDERY, 
DAVID  WHITMER, 
MARTIN  HARRIS. 

Soon  after  this,  the  following  testimony  was  obtained 
from  eight  other  witnesses  who  had  been  permitted  to 
view  the  plates : 

Be  it  known  unto  all  nations,  kindreds,  tongues  and  people, 
unto  whom  this  work  shall  come,  that  Joseph  Smith,  Jr.,  the 
translator  of  this  work,  has  shown  unto  us  the  plates  of  which 
hath  been  spoken,  which  have  the  appearance  of  gold;  and  as 
many  of  the  leaves  as  the  said  Smith  has  translated,  we  did 
(2) 


8  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

handle  with  our  hands :  and  we  also  saw  the  engravings  thereon, 
all  of  which  has  the  appearance  of  ancient  work,  and  of  curious 
workmanship.  And  this  we  bear  record  with  words  of  sober- 
ness, that  the  said  Smith  hath  shown  unto  us,  for  we  have  seen 
and  hefted,  and  know  of  a  surety,  that  the  said  Smith  has 
got  the  plates  of  which  we  have  spoken.  And  we  give  our 
names  unto  the  world  to  witness  unto  the  world  that  which 
we  have  seen;  and  we  lie  not,  God  bearing  witness  of  it. 

CHRISTIAN  WHITMER.      HIRAM  PAGE. 

JACOB  WHITMER.  JOSEPH  SMITH,  Sen. 

PETER  WHITMER,  Jr.       HYRUM  SMITH. 

JOHN  WHITMER.  SAMUEL  H.  SMITH. 

When  Smith  and  Cowdery  had  been  ordained  to  the 
Aaronic  priesthood,  John  the  Baptist  informed  them  that 
if  they  would  continue  faithful,  they  would  also  be  ad- 
mitted into  the  Melchisedec,  or  higher,  priesthood  of 
which  Peter,  James  and  John  held  the  keys.  They  now 
became  anxious  to  have  this  promise  fulfilled,  and  so 
made  their  desire  the  subject  of  fervent  prayer.  At 
length,  while  tarrying  before  the  Lord  in  a  chamber  in 
Whitmer's  house,  the  word  of  the  Lord  came  to  them 
commanding  Joseph  to  ordain  Oliver,  and  Oliver  Joseph, 
to  the  eldership  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ. 

When  the  translation  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  was 
completed,  the  copyright  was  secured,  June  n,  1829,  by 
Joseph  Smith,  "Author  and  Proprietor."  The  work  of 
publication,  which  occupied  seven  months,1  was  let  out  to 
Mr.  Egbert  Grandin,  of  Palmyra,  New  York,  who  agreed 
to  print  five  thousand  copies  for  the  sum  of  three  thou- 
sand dollars.  Martin  Harris,  one  of  the  three  witnesses, 
furnished  the  means  for  the  publication  of  this  edition, 
and  J.  H.  Gilbert,  whose  name  will  be  frequently  men- 
tioned in  the  pages  of  this  book,  set  the  type. 

1  Letter  of  J.  H.  Gilbert  to  Th.  Gregg,  dated  at  Palmyra,  New  York, 
December  30,  1884. 


THE 


BOOK  OF  MORMON 


ACCOUNT  WRITTEN  BY  THE  HAND  OP  MOR- 
MON, UPON  PLATES  TAKEN  FROM 
THE  PLATES  OF  NEPIfl. 


Wherefore  it  is  *n  abridgment  of  the  Record  of  the  People  of  Nepiu ;  a»d  also  .of 
the  LarrtwMtes  ;  written  to  the  Lamaitite*.  'which  area  remnant  of  the  House  of 
Israel ;  and  aiso  to  Jew  iwtd  tjenttie  ;  .written  br  way  of  commandment,  and  also 
by  thf  spirit  >->f  prajiliesy  and  of  Revelation.  Written,  and  aealedttp,  and  hid 
up  unto  the  LORD,  tnat  they  mi^ht  naf  be  destroyed  ;  to  ccaje  forth  by  the  gifi 
and  power  of  Gof>.  unto  the  interpretation  thereof;  sealed  bv  the  hand  of  Moro- 
ni, aid  hid  u;>  unto  the  LORD,  to  come  forth  ia  doe  tinse  by  the  way  of  Gentile; 
i!>t-  totfrpretatton  thereof  by  the  gift  of  Goo ;  an  abridgment  taken  from  the 
Hook  of  Kther,  •  • 

Aiso,  which  i*  a  Recofd  of  the  People  of  Jared,  whieh  were  scattered  ai  the  time 
t?m  LOBD  confounded  the  language  of  the  jwofde  when  th«y  were  buUdiojt  * 
t,-#«r  to  frt  to  Hearen  :  which  is  to  shew  unto  the  remnant  of  the  House, of 
I-<f!»i>!  how  great  things  the  LORD  bath  done  for  theii  fathers;  and  thai  they  may 
k?ur,v  tUV  covenants  of  the  LORB,  that  tfiey  are  not  cast  off  forever ;  and  a!*»o  to 
tin'  convin':m?  of  the  /«w  and  Genti?«  tha*  JESPS  ia  the  CHRIST,  the  ETKH.VAL 
(rfiD,  ut'inissstifig  Himself  unto  ail  nations.  Ami  ««w  if  there  be  fault,  it  b»»  the 
<t.ist*ke  of  men;  wherefore  condemn  not  the  things  of  C»oj>,  thai  ye  mo y  be 
found  spotless  ai  the  judgment  seat  of  CHKUT. 


BY  JOSEPH  SMITH,  .f  U.\IOK, 

AUTHOR  AND  PROPRIETOR* 


PALMYRA: 

PRWTPD  BY  B.  B,.GRANniN,  FOR. THE  AUTHOR, 
1830. 


FACSIMILE  <>r  Tni.K-i'Ar.i.  i»i-   FIKST  KDITION  oi:  MUKM«>->    •      .    . 
TITLE-PAGE    PALMYRA    EDITION    OF   THE   BOOK 
OF   MORMON. 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  9 

On  April  6,  1830,  the  "Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of 
Latter-day  Saints"  was  organized  at  Fayette,  Seneca 
County,  New  York,  with  six  members,  Joseph  Smith, 
Oliver  Cowdery,  Samuel  Smith,  Hyrum  Smith,  David 
Whitmer  and  Peter  Whitmer;  Joseph  Smith  and  Oliver 
Cowdery  becoming  elders  of  the  same. 

This,  in  brief,  is  the  history  of  the  rise  of  Mormonism 
as  given  by  the  Mormons  themselves.  It  is  one  of  the 
strangest  phenomena  of  human  history  that  a  story  so 
absurd  and  foundationless,  and  one  in  which  the  repu- 
table citizens  of  Smith's  own  neighborhood  placed  not 
the  least  bit  of  credence,  should  be  accepted  as  a  truthful 
account  of  what  actually  happened,  by  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  people.  It  must  be  because  men  love  darkness 
rather  than  light  and  fiction  rather  than  fact. 

THE    HISTORICAL   OUTLINE   OF   THE   BOOK   OF    MORMON. 

Turning  our  attention  now  to  the  Book  of  Mormon 
as  a  reputed  sacred  history  of  ancient  America,  we  find 
that  it  is  written  on  the  plan  of  the  Bible  and  is  divided 
into  fifteen  different  books,  as  follows :  I  Nephi,  2  Nephi, 
Jacob,  Enos,  Jarom,  Omni,  Words  of  Mormon,  Mosiah, 
Alma,  Helaman,  Nephi,  Disciple  of  Nephi,  Mormon, 
Ether  and  Moroni.  Historically,  these  books  cover  a 
period  of  about  twenty-six  centuries  and  describe  two 
distinct  nations  of  people,  the  Jaredites  and  Nephites; 
the  Book  of  Ether  being  an  abridged  history  of  the 
former,  the  other  fourteen  of  the  latter. 

The  first  people  to  inhabit  America,  according  to  the 
Book  of  Mormon,  were  the  Jaredites,  who  came  from 
the  tower  of  Babel  under  Jared  and  his  brother,  the 
latter  a  prophet  of  the  Lord.  Leaving  Babel,  the  Jared- 
ites are  said  to  have  journeyed  northward  into  Armenia 
and  from  there  westward  over  southern  Europe  to  Spain, 


10  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

the  Book  of  Mormon  land  of  Moriancumer.  Here  they 
dwelt  on  the  seashore  for  four  years,  at  the  close  of 
which  time  they  put  to  sea  in  eight  cigar-shaped  barges,"  * 
and  landed,  after  a  voyage  of  344  days,  upon  "the  east 
coast  of  Central  America,  near  the  mouth  of  the  river 
Motagua." — Report  of  Committee  on  American  Archaol- 

°gy>  p-  70.' 

Here  they  are  said  to  have  founded  a  government,  to 
have  built  large  cities  (the  ruins  of  which  still  remain), 
to  have  practiced  the  arts  and  customs  of  an  advanced 
civilization,  and  to  have  settled  the  adjacent  country. 

From  Central  America,  the  Jaredites  are  said  to 
have  spread  their  borders  northward  until,  finally,  they 
included  within  their  boundaries  all  of  the  territory  of 
the  present  United  States.  Many  Mormon  writers  iden- 
tify them  with  the  mythical  "Mound  Builders,"  and  at- 
tribute the  earthworks  of  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio  Val- 
leys to  their  construction,  a  theory  that  is  nullified  by 
the  more  recent  archaeological  researches,  which  make  it 
necessary  to  identify  the  "Mound  Builders"  with  oui 
Indian  tribes.8 

After  dwelling  here  for  about  sixteen  hundred  years, 
spreading  over  the  extensive  country  mentioned  and  suf- 

1  "And  they  were  small,  and  they  were  light  upon  the  water,  even 
like  unto  the  lightness  of  a  fowl  upon  the  water:  and  they  were  built 
after  a  manner  that  they  were  exceeding  tight,  even  that  they  would  hold 
water  like  unto  a  dish;  and  the  bottom  thereof  was  tight  like  unto  a  dish; 
and  the  sides  thereof  were  tight  like  unto  a  dish;  and  the  ends  thereof 
were  peaked;  and  the  top  thereof  was  tight  like  unto  a  dish;  and  the  length 
thereof  was  the  length  of  a  tree;  and  the  door  thereof,  when  it  was  shut, 
was  tight  like  unto  a  dish." — Ether,  i :  5. 

a  This  committee  was  appointed  at  the  General  Conference  of  the  Re- 
organized Church,  held  at  Lamoni,  Iowa,  April  6-19,  1894,  for  the  purpose 
of  outlining  and  preparing  a  map  of  Book  of  Mormon  history. 

•See  Chapter  VI.  of  my  "Cumorah  Revisited;  or,  The  Book  of  Mor- 
mon, and  the  Claims  of  the  Mormons,  Re-examined,  from  the  Viewpoint  of 
American  Archaeology  and  Ethnology,"  for  a  full  discussion  of  the  ques- 
tion of  the  nationality  of  the  Mound  Builders. 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  11 

faring  from  dissensions  and  revolts,  the  Jaredites  came 
to  an  end  in  civil  war  in  a  battle  fought  about  600  B.  C. 
at  "Hill  Ramah"  in  western  New  York,  in  which  thou- 
sands were  slain  in  a  few  days,  only  two  escaping — 
Coriantumr,  one  of  the  generals,  and  Ether,  a  prophet 
of  the  Lord.  The  former  was  afterward  discovered 
by  the  people  of  Zarahemla  and  dwelt  with  them  "nine 
moons ;"  Ether  wrote  a  history  of  his  people  on  a  set  of 
plates  and  hid  them  in  such  a  manner  that  they  were 
afterwards  discovered  by  their  successors.  This,  in  brief, 
is  the  history  of  the  first  colony  of  immigrants  to  reach 
our  shores  as  given  in  the  Book  of  Mormon. 

The  book  further  claims  that  in  the  first  year  of  the 
reign  of  Zedekiah,  king  of  Judah,  there  was  dwelling  at 
Jerusalem  a  prophet  and  righteous  man  by  the  name  of 
Lehi.  Lehi  had  four  sons,  Laman,  Lemuel,  Sam  and 
Nephi,  and,  as  the  wickedness  of  the  city  was  great,  he 
was  commanded  to  take  them  and  his  wife,  Saraiah,  and 
depart  into  the  wilderness.  After  their  departure,  the 
sons  returned  to  Jerusalem  at  two  different  times,  first 
to  obtain  a  set  of  brass  plates  which  contained  the  gen- 
ealogy of  their'  fathers,  and,  second,  to  induce  the  family 
of  Ishmael  to  join  them. 

After  eight  years,  by  the  command  of  God,  this  little 
company,  now  augmented  by  the  addition  of  Ishmael's 
family,  built  a  ship  and  launched  out  into  the  Indian 
Ocean,  committing  themselves  to  the  care  of  God.  The 
voyage  was  a  stormy  one,  but,  notwithstanding  this,  they 
successfully  crossed  the  sea,  and,  in  due  time,  landed  "on 
the  coast  of  Chili,  not  far  from  the  thirtieth  degree,  south 
latitude." — Report  of  Committee  on  American  Archceol- 
ogy,  p.  11. 

Here,  they  found  all  manner  of  beasts — the  cow,  ox, 
ass,  horse,  goat  and  wild  goat;  also  such  ores  as  gold, 


12  THE   TRUE  ORIGIN  OP 

silver,  iron  and  copper.  Nephi  began  at  once  to  keep  a 
record  of  his  people,  and  for  this  purpose  he  made  a  set 
of  plates  and  began  to  engrave  thereon  their  history  in 
the  "Reformed  Egyptian" *  language.  In  course  of  time, 
Lehi  died  and  the  company  broke  up  into  two  contending 
factions,  the  Nephites  and  Lamanites,  named  from  his 
two  sons,  Nephi  and  Laman.  The  Nephites  were  enlight- 
ened and  civilized ;  the  Lamanites  degenerated  into  com- 
mon savages — they  were  the  ancestors  of  our  Indians. 

Sometime  after  the  division,  the  Nephites  moved 
northward  into  what  is  now  Colombia  and  Venezuela, 
their  land  of  Zarahemla,  where  they  found  a  colony  of 
people  called  the  Mulekites  or  Zarahemlaites,  who  had 
come  over  from  Jerusalem  about  the  time  of  its  destruc- 
tion by  Nebuchadnezzar,  under  Mulek,  one  of  the  sons 
of  Zedekiah.  From  this  time  onward,  the  Nephites  and 
Zarahemlaites  were  one  people. 

Being  a  prolific  people,  and  having  their  numbers  in- 
creased by  the  addition  of  the  Zarahemlaites,  the  Nephites 
now  sent  out  colonies  into  Central  America  and  Mexico 
and,  finally,  into  the  United  States,  so  that  in  the  short 
space  of  one  thousand  years  from  the  time  of  their  land- 
ing upon  American  soil,  and  notwithstanding  their  wars 
with  the  Lamanites,  they  inhabited  the  whole  of  North 
America  as  far  to  the  northward,  at  least,  as  the  Great 
Lakes. 

But  at  last  they  met  their  downfall.  Drunken  with 
the  pride  of  their  wonderful  achievements,  they  had  for- 
gotten God,  and  with  this  forget  fulness  came  national 
deterioration,  so  that  they  fell  an  easy  prey  to  their  in- 
veterate foes,  the  Lamanites.  Near  "Hill  Cumorah" 


1  This  has  been  verbally  objected  to,  it  being  claimed  that  the  "Re- 
formed Egyptian"  was  not  invented  until  later,  but  see  "Joseph  the  Seer," 
p.  145,  where  Elder  Blair  coincides  with  my  statement. 


THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON  13 

(the  same  as  the  Jaredite  "Ramah")  in  western  New 
York,  the  decisive  battle  was  fought  about  400  A.  D.,  and 
the  Nephite  people  were  nearly  all  exterminated.  Most 
of  those  who  escaped,  "dissented"  to  the  Lamanites,  and 
from  them,  it  is  thought,  have  come  the  tribes  of  "white 
Indians."  *  Moroni,  a  prince  of  royal  blood  who  did 
not  "dissent,"  hid  himself  from  his  enemies,  and,  in  the 
year  420  A.  D.,  finished  the  record  of  his  people  upon  the 
plates  and  deposited  them  in  "Hill  Cumorah,"  where  they 
were  discovered  by  Joseph  Smith  on  the  twenty-second 
day  of  September,  1823. 

This  is,  substantially,  the  historical  account  of  the 
Book  of  Mormon.  Wild  and  weird  as  it  is,  it  has  ap- 
pealed to  those  of  a  dreamy,  visionary  nature  with  mar- 
velous effectiveness.  And  the  Mormon  churches  are 
largely  made  up  of  the  dreamy,  visionary  class.  If  you 
take  the  dream  and  vision  out  of  Mormonism,  you  will 
have  but  very  little  left.8 

THE   PROPOSITION   STATED. 

Since  about  the  year  1832,  it  has  been  asserted  by  the 
opponents  of,  Mormonism  that,  instead  of  being  a  true 
and  authentic  history  of  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  Amer- 
ica, the  Book  of  Mormon  is,  in  fact,  a  story  written  by 
the  Rev.  Solomon  Spaulding,  a  Congregational8  clergy- 
man, for  the  purpose  of  whiling  away  the  hours  of  his 
poor  health  and  providing  him  the  means  of  paying  his 
debts.  Although  all  anti-Mormon  writers  and  polemics 

1  "White  Indians"  is  a  misnomer.     No  such  Indians,  strictly  speaking, 
ever  existed.    The  term  is  applied  to  the  lighter  tribes  of  the  American  race. 

2  This  is  more  apparent  to  one  who  has  been  in  the  faith  than  to  an 
outsider.     The  child  that  is  raised  a  strict  Mormon  is  taught  to  carefully 
regard  his  dreams.     Visions  that,  to  ordinary  people,  are  the  effects  of  a 
disordered  stomach    or   overworked   nerves,   are   to   the    good   Mormon    the 
voice  of  the  Lord. 

8  Or  Presbyterian. 


14  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

have  not  adopted  this  view,1  it  is  the  one  most  usually 
relied  upon  to  account  for  the  origin  of  the  book,  and, 
when  understood,  is  one  of  the  most  effective  arguments 
that  can  be  brought  to  bear  against  the  delusion. 

The  Spaulding  theory  is,  briefly,  this:  About  1809, 
Solomon  Spaulding,  who  was  then  living  at  Conneaut, 
or  New  Salem,  Ohio,  became  very  much  interested  in  the 
aboriginal  works  of  the  country  and  began  to  write 
romances  based  upon  them.  One  of  these,  which  de- 
scribed a  colony  of  Jews  who  came  over  from  Jerusalem 
under  the  leadership  of  Lehi  and  Nephi,  he  entitled  "The 
Manuscript  Found."  In  1812,  Spaulding  removed  from 
Conneaut  to  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  and  put  this  man- 
uscript in  the  hands  of  one  Robert  Patterson,  for  publica- 
tion. Patterson  had  an  employe  by  the  name  of  J.  Har- 
rison Lambdin,  who,  in  turn,  had  a  friend  by  the  name 
of  Sidney  Rigdon,  who  frequently  lounged  around  the 
printing-office.  The  manuscript,  at  length,  came  up  miss- 
ing, and  Rigdon  was  suspected  of  the  theft.  This  sus- 
picion was  afterwards  confirmed  by  the  fact  that  he  ex- 
hibited such  a  manuscript  which  he  said  had  been  written 
by  a  preacher  by  the  name  of  Spaulding.  This  manu- 
script, it  is  claimed,  Rigdon  worked  over,  and,  through 
the  assistance  of  Smith  and  Cowdery,  palmed  off  upon 
the  religious  world  as  a  new  revelation  from  God,  the 
Book  of  Mormon. 

Of  course  the  Mormons  strenuously  deny  any  con- 
nection whatever  between  the  Book  of  Mormon  and  "The 
Manuscript  Found,"  declaring  that  the  latter  was  dis- 
covered in  the  possession  of  Mr.  L.  L.  Rice,  of  Honolulu, 

1  Chief  of  these  is  the  Rev.  D.  H.  Bays,  now  deceased,  who,  after 
serving  as  a  missionary  in  the  Reorganized  Church  for  twenty-seven 
years,  apostatized  and  wrote  his  "Doctrines  and  Dogmas  of  Mormonism," 
in  which  he  denies  the  above  position. 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  15 

Sandwich  Islands,  in  1884,  and  that,  upon  comparison, 
it  is  shown  to  be  entirely  different  from  the  former.  The 
Brighamite  paper,  the  Deseret  News,  for  July  19,  1900, 
says: 

The  discovery  of  the  manuscript  written  by  Mr.  Spaulding 
and  its  depoeit  in  the  Library  at  Oberlin  College,  Ohio,  .  .  . 
has  so  completely  demolished  the  theory  once  relied  upon  by 
superficial  minds  that  the  Book  of  Mormon  was  concocted  from 
that  manuscript,  that  it  has  been  entirely  abandoned  by  all 
opponents  of  Mormonism,  except  the  densely  ignorant  or  un- 
scrupulously dishonest. 

I  deny  the  charge.  The  opponent  of  Mormonism, 
who  holds  to  the  theory  that  the  Book  of  Mormon  orig- 
inated in  Spaulding's  "The  Manuscript  Found,"  is  neither 
"densely  ignorant"  nor  "unscrupulously  dishonest."  The 
Honolulu  manuscript  is  not  now,  and  never  has  been, 
"The  Manuscript  Found,"  but  another  manuscript,  upon 
an  entirely  different  subject,  which  was  written  before 
Spaulding  began  his  Jewish  story.  It  never  was  claimed 
that  the  Book  of  Mormon  originated  in  the  manuscript 
found  in  the  Sandwich  Islands.  That  manuscript  was 
known  of  and  was  described  by  the  opponents  of  Mor- 
monism as  earty  as  1834,  but  it  was  expressly  denied  that 
it  had  any  connection,  whatever,  with  the  Book  of  Mor- 
mon. The  "densely  ignorant"  and  "unscrupulously  dis- 
honest" are  the  Mormons  who  purposely  confuse  the 
public  mind  by  confounding  these  manuscripts  and  speak- 
ing of  them  as  one  and  the  same. 


16  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 


CHAPTER    II. 

The  Character  of  Joseph  Smith— The  Affidavit  of  Peter  Inger- 
soll— The  Affidavit  of  Willard  Chase— The  Affidavit  of 
William  Stafford— The  Affidavit  of  Isaac  Hale— The  Signed 
Statements  of  the  Citizens  of  Palmyra  and  Manchester,  New 
York — The  Mormon  Attempt  to  Exonerate  Smith. 

The  early  life  of  Joseph  Smith  was  spent  in  an  en- 
vironment of  superstition  and  deception  that  peculiarly 
fitted  him  for  the  part  that  he  was  afterwards  to  play 
as  the  prophet  of  "the  new  dispensation."  His  father 
before  him  was  a  man  of  questionable  veracity  and  indo- 
lent habits,  who  spent  a  considerable  part  of  his  time  in 
"witching"  with  a  hazel  rod,1  or  practicing  other  cere- 
monies of  a  like  mysterious  nature,  in  order  that  he  might 
discover  lost  mines  and  buried  treasures;  while  his 
mother  was  a  common  fortune-teller,  who  turned  many  a 
penny  by  tracing  in  the  lines  of  the  open  palm  the  fortune 

1The  "rod"  was  almost  as  much  of  an  essential  part  of  the  para- 
phernalia of  early  Mormonism  as  the  seer-stone.  In  a  revelation  given  to 
Oliver  Cowdery  at  Harmony,  Pennsylvania,  April,  1829,  I  find  the  follow- 
ing: "O,  remember  these  words  and  keep  my  commandments.  Remember 
this  is  your  gift.  Now  this  is  not  all,  for  you  have  another  gift,  which 
is  the  gift  of  working  with  the  rod:  behold,  it  has  told  you  things:  behold, 
there  is  no  other  power  save  God,  that  can  cause  this  rod  of  nature  to  work 
in  your  hands,  for  it  is  the  work  of  God;  and  therefore  whatsoever  you 
shall  ask  me  to  tell  you  by  that  means,  that  will  I  grant  unto  you,  that 
you  shall  know."  This  appears  in  the  "Book  of  Commandments"  7:3, 
but,  as  it  smacked  too  much  of  superstition  and  dark  practices,  it  was 
subsequently  disguised  in  the  "Doc.  and  Cov."  8:3,  to  read:  "O,  remem- 
ber these  words,  and  keep  my  commandments!  Remember  this  is  your 
gift.  Now,  this  is  not  all  thy  gift,  for  you  have  another  gift,  which  is  the 
gift  of  Aaron;  behold,  it  has  told  you  many  things;  behold,  there  is  no 
other  power  save  the  power  of  God  that  can  cause  this  gift  of  Aaron  to 
be  with  you;  therefore  doubt  not,  for  it  is  the  gift  of  God,  and  you  shall 
hold  it  in  your  hands  and  do  marvellous  works;  and  no  power  shall  bo 
able  to  take  it  away  out  of  your  hands,  for  it  is  the  work  of  God." 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  17 

of  the  inquirer.1  With  these  examples  before  him,  there 
is  little  wonder  that,  in  the  earlier  years  of  his  life, 
Joseph  easily  fell  into  questionable  habits  and  engaged 
in  dark  practices,  or  that  later  he  became  one  of  the 
prime  deceivers  in  the  fraud  of  Mormonism. 

As  the  foregoing  characteristics  of  the  Smith  family 
were  well  known  throughout  their  immediate  neighbor- 
hood, and  even  in  that  vicinity  for  miles  around,  they 
were  not  very  successful  in  obtaining,  among  their  ac- 
quaintances, adherents  to  their  peculiar  religious  claims 
and  beliefs.  Not  a  single  man  of  wealth  or  influence, 
from  either  Palmyra  or  Manchester,  excepting  Martin 
Harris,  ever  joined  their  standard.  The  few  from  that 
locality,  outside  of  Harris,  who  followed  the  Smiths  into 
the  Mormon  delusion,  were  all  of  the  lower  strata  and 
were  largely  pals  of  their  midnight  mysteries. 

At  first,  Joseph  began  his  deceptions  on  a  small  scale 
and  contented  himself  with  simply  "peeping"  for  hidden 
treasures,  but,  being  phenomenally  successful  in  this 
small  way,  he  conceived  the  idea  of  launching  out  in  a 
more  colossal  deception,  and,  through  the  assistance  of 
Rigdon,  Cowdsry,  Pratt  and  others,  Mormonism  was  the 
result.  And,  as  he  found  a  few  who  bit  at  the  bait  of  the 
"money-digger,"  he  has  also  found  many  who  have  bitten 
at  the  bait  of  the  "prophet." 

When  Smith  first  promulgated  the  claim  that  he  had 
found  and  deciphered  the  golden  plates,  his  story  was 
treated  with  silent  contempt  by  the  majority  of  his  ac- 
quaintances. Knowing  his  poor  reputation  for  veracity 
at  home,  they  supposed  that  his  tale  would  find  few 
believers  abroad.  But,  when  the  Mormons  had  left  New 
York  and  had  become  settled  at  Kirtland,  Ohio,  and  hun- 

*Mrs.  Dr.  Horace  Eaton  in  "Hand-book  on  Mormonism,"  p.  i. 


18  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

dreds  had  begun  to  flock  to  their  standard,  they  saw  the 
necessity  of  doing  something  to  counteract  the  influence 
of  the  delusion,  and  so  gave  to  the  world,  in  the  form  of 
affidavits  and  signed  statements,  what  they  knew  of  the 
eccentricities  and  poor  practices  of  the  Smith  family. 

A  number  of  these  affidavits  and  statements  were  pub- 
lished in  Howe's  "Mormonism  Unveiled,"  of  1834,  and 
are  copied  here  for  the  purpose  of  giving  the  reader  a 
true  history  of  the  early  operations  of  the  Smiths  and 
also  showing  that  Joseph  was  not  above  being  a  party 
to  the  transformation  of  one  of  Spaulding's  novels  into 
a  "truthful"  and  "divine"  history  of  the  ancient  inhab- 
itants of  America. 

THE   AFFIDAVIT  OF   PETER   INGERSOLL. 

PALMYRA,  Wayne  County,  N.  Y.,  Dec.  2,   1833. 

I,  Peter  Ingersoll,  first  became  acquainted  with  the  family 
of  Joseph  Smith,  Sen.,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  1822.  I  lived 
in  the  neighborhood  of  said  family,  until  about  1830;  during 
which  time  the  following  facts  came  under  my  observation. 

The  general  employment  of  the  family,  was  digging  for 
money.  I  had  frequent  invitations  to  join  the  company,  but 
always  declined  being  one  of  their  number.  They  used  various 
arguments  to  induce  me  to  accept  of  their  invitations.  I  was 
once  ploughing  near  the  house  of  Joseph  Smith,  Sen.,  about 
noon,  he  requested  me  to  walk  with  him  a  short  distance  from 
his  house,  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  whether  a  mineral  rod 
would  work  in  my  hand,  saying,  at  the  same  time,  he  was 
confident  it  would.  As  my  oxen  were  eating,  and  being  myself 
at  leisure,  I  accepted  the  invitation.  When  we  arrived  near 
the  place  at  which  he  thought  there  was  money,  he  cut  a  small 
witch-hazel  bush,  and  gave  me  direction  how  to  hold  it.  He 
then  went  off  some  rods,  and  told  me  to  say  to  the  rod,  "Work 
to  the  money,"  which  I  did  in  an  audible  voice.  He  rebuked 
me  severely  for  speaking  it  loud,  and  said  it  must  be  spoken  in 
a  whisper.  This  was  rare  sport  for  me.  While  the  old  man  was 
standing  off  some  rods,  throwing  himself  into  various  shapes, 
I  told  him  the  rod  did  not  work.  He  seemed  much  surprised  at 


THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON  19 

this,  and  said  he  thought  he  saw  it  move  in  my  hand.  It  was 
now  time  for  me  to  return  to  my  labor.  On  my  return,  I 
picked  up  a  small  stone  and  was  carelessly  tossing  it  from  one 
hand  to  the  other.  Said  he,  (looking  very  earnestly,)  "What 
are  you  going  to  do  with  that  stone?"  "Throw  it  at  the  birds," 
I  replied.  "No,"  said  the  old  man.  "it  is  of  great  worth;"  and 
upon  this  I  gave  it  to  him.  "Now,"  says  he,  "if  you  only  knew 
the  value  there  is  back  of  my  house,"  and  pointing  to  a  place 
near,  "there,"  exclaimed  he,  "is  one  chest  of  gold  and  another  of 
silver."  He  then  put  the  stone  which  I  had  given  him  into  his 
hat,  and  stooping  forward,  he  bowed  and  made  sundry  ma- 
noeuvres, quite  similar  to  those  of  a  stool-pigeon.  At  length, 
he  took  down  his  hat,  and,  being  very  much  exhausted,  said,  in 
a  faint  voice,  "If  you  knew  what  I  had  seen,  you  would  be- 
lieve." To  see  the  old  man  thus  try  to  impose  upon  me,  I 
confess,  rather  had  a  tendency  to  excite  contempt  than  pity. 
Yet  I  thought  it  best  to  conceal  my  feelings,  preferring  to  appear 
the  dupe  of  my  credulity,  than  to  expose  myself  to  his  resent- 
ment. His  son  Alvin  then  went  through  with  the  same  per- 
formance, which  was  equally  disgusting. 

Another  time,  the  said  Joseph,  Sen.,  told  me  that  the  best 
time  for  digging  money,  was  in  the  hsat  of  summer,  when  the 
heat  of  the  sun  caused  the  chests  of  money  to  rise  near  the 
top  of  the  ground.  "You  notice,"  said  he,  "the  large  stones 
on  the  top  of  the  ground — we  call  them  rocks,  and  they  truly 
appear  so,  but  they  are,  in  fact,  most  of  them  chests  of  money 
raised  by  the  heat  of  the  sun." 

At  another  time,  he  told  me  that  the  ancient  inhabitants  of 
this  country  used  camels  instead  of  horses.  For  proof  of  this 
fact,  he  stated  that  in  a  certain  hill,  on  the  farm  of  Mr.  Cuyler, 
there  was  a  cave  containing  an  immense  value  of  gold  and  sil- 
ver, stands  of  arms,  also,  a  saddle  for  a  camel,  hanging  on  a 
peg,  at  one  side  of  the  cave.  I  asked  him  of  what  kind  of 
wood  the  peg  was.  He  could  not  tell,  but  said  it  had  become 
similar  to  stone  or  iron. 

The  old  man,  at  last,  laid  a  plan  which  he  thought  would 
accomplish  his  design.  His  cows  and  mine  had  been  gone  for 
sometime,  and  were  not  to  be  found,  notwithstanding  our  dili- 
gent search  for  them.  Day  after  day  was  spent  in  fruitless 
search,  until,  at  length,  he  proposed  to  find  them  by  his  art 


20  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

of  divination.  So  he  took  his  stand  near  the  corner  of  his 
house,  with  a  small  stick  in  his  hand,  and  made  several  strange 
and  peculiar  motions,  and  then  said  he  could  go  directly  to  the 
cows.  So  he  started  off,  and  went  into  the  woods,  about  one 
hundred  rods  distant,  and  found  the  lost  cows.  But,  on  finding 
out  the  secret  of  the  mystery,  Harrison  had  found  the  cows, 
and  drove  them  to  the  above-named  place,  and  milked  them. 
So  that  his  stratagem  turned  out  rather  more  to  his  profit  than 
it  did  to  my  edification.  The  old  man,  finding  that  all  his 
efforts  to  make  me  a  money-digger  had  proved  abortive,  at 
length  ceased  his  importunities.  One  circumstance,  however,  I 
will  mention,  before  leaving  him.  Sometime  before  young 
Joseph  found,  or  pretended  to  find,  the  gold  plates,  the  old  man 
told  me  that  in  Canada,  there  had  been  a  book  found,  in  a 
hollow  tree,  that  gave  an  account  of  the  first  settlment  of  this 
country,  before  it  was  discovered  by  Columbus. 

In  the  month  of  August,  1827,  I  was  hired  by  Joseph  Smith, 
Jr.,  to  go  to  Pennsylvania,  to  move  his  wife's  household  furni- 
ture up  to  Manchester,  where  his  wife  then  was.  When  we  ar- 
rived at  Mr.  Male's  in  Harmony,  Pa.,  from  which  place  he  had 
taken  his  wife,  a  scene  presented  itself  truly  affecting.  His 
father-in-law  (Mr.  Hale)  addressed  Joseph,  in  a  flood  of  tears: 
"You  have  stolen  my  daughter,  and  married  her.  I  had  much 
rather  have  followed  her  to  her  grave.  You  spend  your  time 
in  digging  for  money — pretend  to  see  in  a  stone  and  thus  try 
to  deceive  people."  Joseph  wept,  and  acknowledged  he  could 
not  see  in  a  stone  now,  nor  never  could;  and  that  his  former* 
pretensions  in  that  respect,  were  all  false.  He  then  promised 
to  give  up  his  old  habits  of  digging  for  money  and  looking 
into  stones.  Mr.  Hale  told  Joseph,  if  he  would  move  to  Penn- 
sylvania and  work  for  a  living,  he  would  assist  him  in  getting 
into  business.  Joseph  acceded  to  this  proposition.  I  then 
returned  with  Joseph  and  his  wife  to  Manchester.  One  cir- 
cumstance occurred,  on  the  road,  worthy  of  notice,  and  I  be- 
lieve this  is  the  only  instance  where  Joe  ever  exhibited  true 
Yankee  wit.  On  our  journey  to  Pennsylvania,  we  could  not 
make  the  exact  change  at  the  toll  gate  near  Ithaca.  Joseph 
told  the  gate  tender  that  he  would  "hand"  him  the  toll  on  his 
return,  as  he  was  coming  back  in  a  few  days.  On  our  return, 
Joseph  tendered  to  him  25c,  the  toll  being  i2l/2.  He  did  not 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  21 

recognize  Smith,  so  he  accordingly  gave  him  back  I2l/£c,  After 
we  had  passed  the  gate,  I  asked  him  if  he  did  not  agree 
to  pay  double  gateage  on  our  return?  "No,"  said  he,  "I  agreed 
to  hand  it  to  him,  and  I  did,  but  he  handed  it  back  again." 

Joseph  told  me,  on  his  return,  that  he  intended  to  keep 
the  promise  which  he  had  made  to  his  father-in-law;  "but," 
said  he,  "it  will  be  hard  for  me,  for  they  will  all  oppose,  as 
they  want  me  to  look  in  the  stone  for  them  to  dig  money." 
And,  in  fact,  it  was  as  he  predicted.  They  urged  him,  day  after 
day,  to  resume  his  old  practice  of  looking  in  the  stone.  He 
seemed  much  perplexed  as  to  the  course  he  should  pursue.  In 
this  dilemma,  he  made  me  his  confident,  and  told  me  what 
daily  transpired  in  the  family  of  Smiths.  One  day  he  came 
and  greeted  me,  with  a  joyful  countenance.  Upon  asking  the 
cause  of  his  unusual  happiness,  he  replied  in  the  following  lan- 
guage: "As  I  was  passing,  yesterday,  across  the  woods,  after  a 
heavy  shower  of  rain,  I  found,  in  a  hollow,  some  beautiful  white 
sand,  that  had  been  washed  up  by  the  water.  I  took  off  my 
frock,  and  tied  up  several  quarts  of  it  and  then  went  home. 
On  my  entering  the  house,  I  found  the  family  at  the  table, 
eating  dinner.  They  were  all  anxious  to  know  the  contents 
of  my  frock.  At  that  moment,  I  happened  to  think  of  what  I 
had  heard  about  a  history  found  in  Canada,  called  the  golden 
Bible;  so  I  very  gravely  told  them  it  was  the  golden  Bible. 
To  my  surprise,  they  were  credulous  enough  to  believe  what 
I  said.  Accordingly  I  told  them  that  I  had  received  a  com- 
mandment to  let  no  one  see  it;  for,  says  I,  no  man  can  see 
it  with  the  naked  eye  and  live.  However,  I  offered  to  take 
out  the  book  and  show  it  to  them,  but  they  refused  to  see  it, 

and  left  the  room.  Now,"  said  Joe,  "I  have  got  the  d d 

fools  fixed,  and  will  carry  out  the  fun."  Notwithstanding,  he 
told  me  he  had  no  such  book,  and  believed  there  never  was 
any  such  book,  yet,  he  told  me  that  he  actually  went  to  Willard 
Chase,  to  get  him  to  make  a  chest,  in  which  he  might  deposit  his 
golden  Bible.  But,  as  Chase  would  not  do  it,  he  made  a  box 
himself,  of  clapboards,  and  put  it  into  a  pillow-case,  and  allowed 
people  only  to  lift  it,  and  feel  of  it  through  the  case. 

In  the  fall  of  1827,  Joseph  wanted  to  go  to  Pennsylvania. 
His  brother-in-law  had  come  to  assist  him  in  moving,  but  he 
himself  was  out  of  money.  He  wished  to  borrow  the  money 


22  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

of  me,  and  he  presented  Mr.  Hale  as  security.  I  told  him  in 
case  he  could  obtain  assistance  from  no  other  source,  I  would 
let  him  have  some  money.  Joseph  then  went  to  Palmyra;  and, 
said  he,  "I  there  met  that  d  -  n  fool  Martin  Harris,  and  told 
him  that  I  had  a  command  to  ask  the  first  honest  man  I  met 
with  for  fifty  dollars  in  money,  and  he  would  let  me  have  it. 
I  saw  at  once,"  said  Joe,  "that  it  took  his  notion,  for  he 
promptly  gave  me  the  fifty." 

Joseph  thought  this  sum  was  sufficient  to  bear  his  expenses  to 
Pennsylvania;  so  he  immediately  started  off,  and  since  that  time 
I  have  not  been,  much  in  his  society.  While  the  Smiths  were 
living  at  Waterloo,  William  visited  my  neighborhood;  and, 
upon  my  inquiry  how  they  came  on,  he  replied,  "We  do  better 
there  than  here;  we  were  too  well  known  here  to  do  much." 

PETER  INGERSOLL. 
STATE  OF  NEW  YORK, 


Wayne  County.  SS' 

I  certify,  that  on  this  gth  day  of  December,  1833,  personally 
appeared  before  me  the  above-named  Peter  Ingersoll,  to  me 
known,  and  made  oath,  according  to  law,  to  the  truth  of  the 
above  statement.  TH.  P.  BALDWIN, 

Judge  of  Wayne  County  Court 

THE   AFFIDAVIT  OF   WILLARD   CHASE. 

MANCHESTER,  Ontario  County,  New  York,  1833. 
I  became  acquainted  with  the  Smith  family,  known  as  the 
authors  of  the  Mormon  Bible,  in  the  year  1820.  At  that  time, 
they  were  engaged  in  the  money-digging  business,  which  they 
followed  until  the  latter  part  of  the  season  of  1827.  In  the 
year  1822  I  was  engaged  in  digging  a  well.  I  employed  Alvin 
and  Joseph  Smith  to  assist  me;  the  latter  of  whom  is  now 
known  as  the  Mormon  Prophet.  After  digging  about  twenty 
feet  below  the  surface  of  the  earth,  we  discovered  a  singularly 
appearing  stone,  which  excited  my  curiosity.  I  brought  it  to  the 
top  of  the  well,  and  as  we  were  examining  it,  Joseph  put  it 
into  his  hat,  and  then  his  face  into  the  top  of  his  hat.  It 
has  been  said  by  Smith,  that  he  brought  the  stone  from  the 
well;  but  this  is  false.  There  was  no  one  in  the  well  but 
myself.  The  next  morning  he  came  to  me  and  wished  to 
obtain  the  stcne,  alleging  that  he  could  see  in  it;  but  I  told 


HYRUM   SMITH. 


THE  BOOK  OP  MORMON  23 

him  I  did  not  wish  to  part  with  it,  on  account  of  its  being  a 
curiosity,  but  would  lend  it.  After  obtaining  the  stone,  he 
began  to  publish  abroad  what  wonders  he  could  discover  by 
looking  in  it,  and  made  so  much  disturbance  among  the  credu- 
lous part  of  the  community,  that  I  ordered  the  stone  to  be  re- 
turned to  me  again.  He  had  it  in  his  possession  about  two 
years.  I  believe,  some  time  in  1825,  Hiram  Smith  (brother  of 
Joseph  Smith)  came  to  me,  and  wished  to  borrow  the  same 
stone,  alleging  that  they  wanted  to  accomplish  some  business  of 
importance,  which  could  not  very  well  be  done  without  the  aid 
of  the  stone.  I  told  him  it  was  of  no  particular  worth  to  me, 
but  merely  wished  to  keep  it  as  a  curiosity,  and  if  he  would 
pledge  me  his  word  and  honor  that  I  should  have  it  when 
called  for,  he  might  take  it;  which  he  did,  and  took  the  stone. 
I  thought  I  could  rely  on  his  word  at  this  time,  as  he  had 
made  a  profession  of  religion.  But  in  this  I  was  disappointed, 
for  he  disregarded  both  his  word  and  honor. 

In  the  fall  of  1826,  a  friend  called  upon  me,  and  wished  to 
see  that  stone,  about  which  so  much  had  been  said;  and  I  told 
him,  if  he  would  go  with  me  to  Smith's,  (a  distance  of  about 
half  a  mile,)  he  might  see  it.  But,  to  my  surprise,  on  going 
to  Smith's,  and  asking  him  for  the  stone,  he  said,  "You  cannot 
have  it;"  I  told  him  it  belonged  to  me,  repeated  to  him  the 
promise  he  made  me,  at  the  time  of  obtaining  the  stone:  upon 
which  he  faced  me  with  a  malignant  look,  and  said,  "I  don't 
care  who  in  the  devil  it  belongs  to,  you  shall  not  have  it." 

In  the  month  of  June,  1827,  Joseph  Smith,  Sen.,  related  to 
me  the  following  story:  "That  some  years  ago,  a  spirit  had  ap- 
peared to  Joseph  his  son,  in  a  vision,  and  informed  him  that  in 
a  certain  place  there  was  a  record  on  plates  of  gold,  and  that  he 
was  the  person  that  must  obtain  them,  arid  this  he  must  do  in 
the  following  manner:  On  the  22d  of  September,  he  must  re- 
pair to  the  place  where  was  deposited  this  manuscript,  dressed 
in  black  clothes,  and  riding  a  black  horse  with  a  switch  tail, 
and  demand  the  book  in  a  certain  name,  and  after  obtaining  it 
he  must  go  directly  away,  and  neither  lay  it  down  nor  look 
behind  him.  They  accordingly  fitted  out  Joseph  with  a  suit  of 
black  clothes  and  borrowed  a  black  horse.  He  repaired  to  the 
place  of  deposit  and  demanded  the  book  which  was  in  a  stone 
box,  unsealed,  and  so  near  the  top  of  the  ground  that  he  could 

(3) 


24  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

see  one  end  of  it,  and  raising  it  up,  took  out  the  book  of  gold; 
but  fearing  some  one  might  discover  where  he  got  it,  he  laid 
it  down  to  place  back  the  top  stone  as  he  found  it;  and  turning 
round,  to  his  surprise  there  was  no  book  in  sight.  He  again 
opened  the  box,  and  in  it  saw  the  book,  and  attempted  to  take 
it  out,  but  was  hindered.  He  saw  in  the  box  something  like  a 
toad  which  soon  assumed  the  appearance  of  a  man,  and  struck 
him  on  the  side  of  his  head.  Not  being  discouraged  at  trifles, 
he  again  stooped  down  and  strove  to  take  the  book,  when  the 
spirit  struck  him  again,  and  knocked  him  three  or  four  rods 
and  hurt  him  prodigiously.  After  recovering  from  his  fright,  he 
inquired  why  he  could  not  obtain  the  plates;  to  which  the  spirit 
made  reply,  "Because  you  have  not  obeyed  your  orders."  He 
then  inquired  when  he  could  have  them,  and  was  answered  thus  i 
Come  one  year  from  this  day,  and  bring  with  you  your  oldest 
brother,  and  you  shall  have  them.  This  spirit,  he  said,  was 
the  spirit  of  the  prophet  who  wrote  this  book,  and  who  was 
sent  to  Joseph  Smith,  to  make  known  these  things  to  him. 
Before  the  expiration  of  the  year,  his  oldest  brother  died; 
which  the  old  man  said  was  an  accidental  providence! 

Joseph  went  one  year  from  that  day,  to  demand  the  book, 
and  the  spirit  inquired  for  his  brother,  and  he  said  that  he  was 
dead.  The  spirit  then  commanded  him  to  come  again,  in  just 
one  year,  and  bring  a  man  with  him.  On  asking  who  might  be 
the  man,  he  was  answered  that  he  would  know  him  when  he 
saw  him. 

Joseph  believed  that  one  Samuel  T.  Lawrence  was  the  man 
alluded  to  by  the  spirit,  and  went  with  him  to  a  singular  look- 
ing hill,  in  Manchester,  and  showed  him  where  the  treasure 
was.  Lawrence  asked  him  if  he  had  ever  discovered  anything 
with  the  plates  of  gold;  he  said  no;  he  then  asked  him  to  look 
in  his  stone,  to  see  if  there  was  anything  with  them.  He 
looked,  and  said  there  was  nothing;  he  told  him  to  look  again, 
and  see  if  there  was  not  a  large  pair  of  specs  with  the  plates; 
he  looked  and  soon  saw  a  pair  of  spectacles,  the  same  with 
which  Joseph  says  he  translated  the  Book  of  Mormon.  Law- 
rence told  him  it  would  not  be  prudent  to  let  these  plates  be 
seen  for  about  two  years,  as  it  would  make  a  great  disturbance 
in  the  neighborhood.  Not  long  after  this  Joseph  altered  his 
mind,  and  said  L.  was  not  the  right  man,  nor  had  he  told  him 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  25 

the  right  place.  About  this  time  he  went  to  Harmony  in  Penn- 
sylvania, and  formed  an  acquaintance  with  a  young  lady  by  the 
name  of  Emma  Hale,  whom  he  wished  to  marry.  -In  the  fall 
of  1826  he  wanted  to  go  to  Pennsylvania  to  be  married;  but 
being  destitute  of  means,  he  now  set  his  wits  to  work  how  he 
should  raise  money,  and  get  recommendations,  to  procure  the 
fair  one  of  his  choice.  He  went  to  Lawrence  with  the  following 
story,  as  related  to  me  by  Lawrence  himself.  That  he  had 
discovered  in  Pennsylvania,  on  the  bank  of  the  Susquehanna 
River,  a  very  rich  mine  of  silver,  and  if  he  would  go  there 
with  him,  he  might  have  a  share  in  the  profits ;  that  it  was  near 
high-water  mark,  and  that  they  could  load  it  into  boats  and  take 
it  down  the  river  to  Philadelphia,  to  market.  Lawrence  then 
asked  Joseph  if  he  was  not  deceiving  him;  no,  said  he,  for  I 
have  been  there  and  seen  it  with  mine  own  eyes,  and  if  you  do 
not  find  it  so  when  we  get  there,  I  will  bind  myself  to  be  your 
servant  for  three  years.  By  these  grave  and  fair  promises 
Lawrence  was  induced  to  believe  something  in  it,  and  agreed 
to  go  with  him.  L.  soon  found  that  Joseph  was  out  of  money, 
and  had  to  bear  his  expenses  on  the  way.  When  they  got  to 
Pennsylvania,  Joseph  wanted  L.  to  recommend  him  to  Miss  H., 
which  he  did,  although  he  was  asked  to  do  it ;  but  could  not  well 
get  rid  of  it  as  he  was  in  his  company.  L.  then  wished  to  see 
the  silver  mine,  and  he  and  Joseph  went  to  the  river,  and 
made  search,  but  found  nothing.  Thus  Lawrence  had  his  trouble 
for  his  pains  an<d  returned  home  lighter  than  he  went,  while 
Joseph  had  got  his  expenses  borne,  and  a  recommendation  to 
his  girl. 

Joseph's  next  move  was  to  get  married;  the  girl's  parents 
being  opposed  to  the  match;  as  they  happened  to  be  from  home, 
he  took  advantage  of  the  opportunity,  and  went  off  with  her 
and  was  married. 

Now,  being  still  destitute  of  money,  he  set  his  wits  at  work 
how  he  should  get  back  to  Manchester,  his  place  of  residence; 
he  hit  upon  the  following  plan,  which  succeeded  very  well 
He  went  to  an  honest  old  Dutchman,  by  the  name  of  Stowel 
and  told  him  that  he  had  discovered  on  the  bank  of  Black 
River,  in  the  village  of  Watertown,  Jefferson  County,  N.  Y., 
a  cave,  in  which  he  had  found  a  bar  of  gold,  as  big  as  his  leg, 
and  about  three  or  four  feet  long.  That  he  could  not  get  it 


26  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OP 

out  alone,  on  account  of  its  being  fast  at  one  end;  and  if  he 
would  move  him  to  Manchester,  N.  Y.,  they  would  go  together, 
and  take  a  chisel  and  mallet  and  get  it,  and  Stowel  should  share 
the  prize  with  him.  Stowel  moved  him. 

A  short  time  after  their  arrival,  at  Manchester,  Stowel  re- 
minded Joseph  of  his  promise;  but  he  calmly  replied  that  he 
would  not  go,  because  his  wife  was  now  among  strangers, 
and  would  be  very  lonesome  if  he  went  away.  Mr.  Stowel 
was  then  obliged  to  return  without  any  gold,  and  with  less 
money  than  he  came. 

In  the  forepart  of  September,  (I  believe,)  1827,  the  prophet 
requested  me  to  make  him  a  chest,  informing  me  that  he  de- 
signed to  move  back  to  Pennsylvania,  and  expecting  soon  to  get 
his  gold  book,  he  wanted  a  chest  to  lock  it  up,  giving  me  to 
understand,  at  the  same  time,  that  if  I  would  make  the  chest  he 
would  give  me  a  share  in  the  book.  I  told  him  my  business 
was  such  that  I  could  rot  make  it;  but  if  he  would  bring  the 
book  to  me,  I  would  lock  it  up  for  him.  He  said  that  would 
not  do,  as  he  was  commanded  to  keep  it  two  years,  without 
letting  it  come  to  the  eye  of  any  one  but  himself.  This 
commandment,  however,  he  did  not  keep;  for  in  less  than  two 
years,  twelve  men  said  they  had  seen  it.  I  told  him  to  get  it 
and  convince  me  of  its  existence,  and  I  would  make  him  a 
chest ;  but  he  said,  that  would  not  do,  as  he  must  have  a 
chest  to  lock  the  book  in,  as  soon  as  he  took  it  out  of  the 
ground.  I  saw  him  a  few  days  after  when  he  told  me  that  I 
must  make  the  chest.  I  told  him  plainly  that  I  could  not; 
upon  which  he  told  me  that  I  could  have  no  share  in  the  book. 

A  few  weeks  after  this  conversation  he  came  to  my  house, 
and  related  the  following  story:  That  on  the  22d  of  September, 
he  arose  early  in  the  morning  and  took  a  one-horse  wagon, 
of  some  one  that  had  staid  over  night  at  their  house,  without 
leave  or  license ;  and,  together  with  his  wife,  repaired  to  the 
hill  which  contained  the  book.  He  left  his  wife  in  the  wagon, 
by  the  road,  and  went  alone  to  the  hill,  a  distance  of  thirty  or 
forty  rods  from  the  road;  he  said  he  then  took  the  book  out 
of  the  ground, and  hid  it  in  a  tree  top,  and  returned  home. 
He  then  went  to  the  town  of  Macedon  to  work.  After  about 
ten  days,  it  having  been  suggested  that  some  one  had  got  his 
book,  his  wife  went  after  him ;  he  hired  a  horse,  and  went  home  . 


THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON  27 

in  the  afternoon,  staid  long  enough  to  drink  one  cup  of  tea, 
and  then  went  for  his  book,  found  it  safe,  took  off  his  frock, 
wrapt  it  round  it,  put  it  under  his  arm  and  ran  all  the  way 
home,  a  distance  of  about  two  miles.  He  said  he  should  think  it 
would  weigh  sixty  pounds,  and  was  sure  it  would  weigh  forty. 
On  his  return  home,  he  said  he  was  attacked  by  two  men  in  the 
woods,  and  knocked  them  both  down  and  made  his  escape, 
arrived  safe  and  secured  his  treasure.  He  then  observed  that  if 
it  had  not  been  for  that  stone,  (which  he  acknowledged  be- 
longed to  me,)  he  would  not  have  obtained  the  book.  A  few 
days  afterwards,  he  told  one  of  my  neighbors  that  he  had  not 
got  any  such  book,  nor  never  had  such  an  one;  but  that  he 
had  told  the  story  to  deceive  the  d — d  fool,  (meaning  me,)  to 
get  him  to  make  a  chest.  His  neighbors  having  become  dis- 
gusted with  his  foolish  stories,  he  determined  to  go  back  to 
Pennsylvania,  to  avoid  what  he  called  persecution.  His  wits 
were  now  put  to  the  task  to  contrive  how  he  should-  get  money 
to  bear  his  expenses.  He  met  one  day  in  the  streets  of  Palmyra 
a  rich  man,  whose  name  was  Martin  Harris,  and  addressed  him 
thus :  "I  have  a  commandment  from  God  to  ask  the  first  man 
I  meet  in  the  street  to  give  me  fifty  dollars  to  assist  me  in 
doing  the  work  of  the  Lord  by  translating  the  golden  Bible." 
Martin  being  naturally  a  credulous  man,  hands  Joseph  the 
money.  In  the  spring  of  1829  Harris  went  to  Pennsylvania, 
and  on  his  return  to  Palmyra,  reported  that  the  prophet's  wife, 
in  the  month  of, June  following,  would  be  delivered  of  a  male 
child  that  would  be  able  when  two  years  old  to  translate  the 
golden  Bible.  Then,  said  he,  you  will  see  Joseph  Smith,  Jr., 
walking  through  the  streets  of  Palmyra  with  a  gold  Bible  under 
his  arm,  and  having  a  gold  breast  plate  on,  and  a  gold  sword 
hanging  by  his  side.  This,  however,  by  the  by,  proved  false. 

In  April,  1830,  I  again  asked  Hiram  for  the  stone  which  he 
had  borrowed  of  me;  he  told  me  that  I  should  not  have  it, 
for  Joseph  made  use  of  it  in  translating  his  Bible.  I  reminded 
him  of  his  promise  and  that  he  had  pledged  his  honor  to  re- 
turn it;  but  he  gave  me  the  lie,  saying  the  stone  was  not  mine 
nor  never  was.  Harris  at  the  same  time  flew  in  a  rage,  took 
me  by  the  collar  and  said  I  was  a  liar,  and  he  could  prove  it 
by  twelve  witnesses.  After  I  had  extricated  myself  from  him, 
Hiram  in  a  rage  shook  his  fist  at  me  and  abused  me  in  a  most 


28  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

scandalous  manner.  Thus  I  might  proceed  in  describing  the 
character  of  these  high  priests  by  relating  one  transaction  after 
another,  which  would  all  tend  to  set  them  in  the  same  light 
in  which  they  were  regarded  by  their  neighbors;  viz.:  as  a 
pest  to  society.  I  have  regarded  Joseph  Smith,  Jr.,  from  the 
time  I  first  became  acquainted  with  him  until  he  left  this  part 
of  the  country,  as  a  man  whose  word  could  not  be  depended 
upon.  Hiram's  character  was  but  very  little  better.  What  I 
have  said  respecting  the  character  of  these  men,  will  apply  to 
the  whole  family.  What  I  have  stated  relative  to  the  characters 
of  these  individuals,  thus  far,  is  wholly  true.  After  they  became 
thorough  Mormons,  their  conduct  was  more  disgraceful  than 
before.  They  did  not  hesitate  to  abuse  any  man,  no  matter  how 
fair  his  character,  provided  he  did  not  embrace  their  creed. 
Their  tongues  were  continually  employed  in  spreading  scandal 
and  abuse.  Although  they  left  this  part  of  ttye  country  without 
paying  their  just  debts,  yet  their  creditors  were  glad  to  have 
them  do  so,  rather  than  to  have  them  stay,  disturbing  the 
neighborhood.  WILLARD  CHASE. 

On  the  nth  December,  1833,  the  said  Willard  Chase  ap- 
peared before  me,  and  made  oath  that  the  foregoing  statement 
to  which  he  has  subscribed  his  name,  is  true,  according  to  his 
best  recollection  and  belief.  FRED'K  SMITH, 

Justice  of  the  Peace  of  Wayne  County. 

THE   AFFIDAVIT   OF    WILLIAM    STAFFORD. 

MANCHESTER,  Ontario  County,  N.  Y.,  Dec.  8,  1833. 
I,  William  Stafford,  having  been  called  upon  to  give  a  true 
statement  of  my  knowledge,  concerning  the  character  and  con- 
duct of  the  family  of  Smiths,  known  to  the  world  as  the  founders 
of  the  Mormon  sect,  do  say,  that  I  first  became  acquainted  with 
Joseph,  Sen.,  and  his  family,  in  the  year  1820.  They  lived,  at 
that  time,  in  Palmyra,  about  one  mile  and  a  half  from  my  resi- 
dence. A  great  part  of  their  time  was  devoted  to  digging  for 
money:  especially  in  the  night  time,  when  they  said  the  money 
could  be  the  most  easily  obtained.  I  have  heard  them  tell 
marvellous  tales,  respecting  the  discoveries  they  had  made  in 
their  peculiar  occupation  of  money-digging.  They  would  say,  for 
instance,  that  in  such  a  place,  in  such  a  hill,  on  a  certain  man's 
farm,  there  were  deposited  keys,  barrels  and  hogsheads  of  coined 


THE  BOOK   OF   MORMON  29 

silver  and  gold — bars  of  gold,  golden  images,  brass  kettles  filled 
with  gold  and  silver,  gold  candlesticks,  swords,  &.&.  They 
would  say,  also,  that  nearly  all  the  hills  in  this  part  of  New 
York,  were  thrown  up  by  human  hands,  and  in  them  were  large 
caves,  which  Joseph,  Jr.,  could  see,  by  placing  a  stone  of  singular 
appearance  in  his  hat,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  exclude  all  light; 
at  which  time  they  pretended  he  could  see  all  things  within  and 
under  the  earth,— that  he  could  see  within  the  above-mentioned 
caves,  large  gold  bars  and  silver  plates, — that  he  could  also 
discover  the  spirits  in  whose  charge  these  treasures  were, 
clothed  in  ancient  dress.  At  certain  times,  these  treasures  could 
be  obtained  very  easily;  at  others,  the  obtaining  of  them  was 
difficult.  The  facility  of  approaching  them,  depended,  in  a  great 
measure,  on  the  state  of  the  moon.  New  moon  and  good  Friday, 
I  believe,  were  regarded  as  the  most  favorable  times  for  ob- 
taining these  treasures.  These  tales  I  regarded  as  visionary. 
However,  being  prompted  by  curiosity,  I  at  length  accepted  of 
their  invitations,  to  join  them  in  their  nocturnal  excursions.  I 
will  now  relate  a  few  incidents  attending  these  excursions. 

Joseph  Smith,  Sen.,  came  to  me  one  night,  and  told  me,  that 
Joseph,  Jr.,  had  been  looking  in  his  glass,  and  had  seen,  not 
many  rods  from  his  house,  two  or  three  kegs  of  gold  and  silver, 
some  feet  under  the  surface  of  the  earth ;  and  that  none  others 
but  the  elder  Joseph  and  myself  could  get  them.  I  accordingly 
consented  to  go,  and  early  in  the  evening  repaired  to  the  place 
of  deposit.  Joseph,  Sen.,  f  rst  made  a  circle,  twelve  or  fourteen 
feet  in  diameter'.  This  circle,  said  he,  contains  the  treasure. 
He  then  stuck  in  the  ground  a  row  of  witch-hazel  sticks,  around 
the  said  circle,  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  off  the  evil  spirits. 
Within  this  circle  he  made  another,  of  about  eight  or  ten  feet  in 
diameter.  He  walked  around  three  times  on  the  periphery  of 
this  last  circle,  muttering  to  himself  something  which  I  could 
not  understand.  He  next  stuck  a  steel  rod  in  the  center  of  the 
circles,  and  then  enjoined  profound  silence  upon  us,  lest  we 
should  arouse  the  evil  spirit  who  had  the  charge  of  these 
treasures.  After  we  had  dug  a  trench  about  five  feet  in  depth 
around  the  rod,  the  old  man,  by  signs  and  motions,  asked  leave 
of  absence,  and  went  to  the  house  to  inquire  of  young  Joseph 
the  cause  of  our  disappointment  He  soon  returned,  and  said, 
that  Joseph  had  remained  all  this  time  in  the  house,  looking  in 


30  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

his  stone  and  watching  the  motions  of  the  evil  spirit — that  he 
saw  the  spirit  come  up  to  the  ring,  and  as  soon  as  it  beheld  the 
cone  which  we  had  formed  around  the  rod,  it  caused  the  money 
to  sink.  We  then  went  into  the  house,  and  the  old  man  ob- 
served, that  we  had  made  a  mistake  in  the  commencement  of 
the  operation ;  if  it  had  not  been  for  that,  said  he.  we  should 
have  got  the  money. 

At  another  time,  they  devised  a  scheme,  by  which  they  might 
satiate  their  hunger  with  the  mutton  of  one  of  my  sheep.  They 
had  seen  in  my  flock  of  sheep,  a  large,  fat,  black  wether.  Old 
Joseph  and  one  of  the  boys  came  to  me  one  day,  and  said  that 
Joseph,  Jr.,  had  discovered  some  very  remarkable  and  valuable 
treasures,  which  could  be  procured  only  in  one  way.  That  way 
was  as  follows: — That  a  black  sheep  should  be  taken  on  to  the 
ground  where  the  treasures  were  concealed — that  after  cutting 
its  throat,  it  should  be  led  around  a  circle  while  bleeding.  This 
being  done,  the  wrath  of  the  evil  spirit  would  be  appeased:  the 
treasures ,  could  then  be  obtained,  and  my  share  of  them  was 
to  be  fourfold.  To  gratify  my  curiosity,  I  let  them  have  a  large 
fat  sheep.  They  afterwards  informed  me  that  the  sheep  was 
killed  pursuant  to  commandment ;  but  as  there  was  some  mistake 
in  the  process,  it  did  not  have  the  desired  effect.  This,  I  believe, 
is  the  only  time  they  ever  made  money-digging  a  profitable 
business.  They,  however,  had  around  them  constantly  a  worth- 
less gang,  whose  employment  it  was  to  dig  money  nights,  and 
who,  day  times,  had  more  to  do  with  mutton  than  money. 

When  they  found  that  the  people  of  this  vicinity  would  no 
longer  put  any  faith  in  their  schemes  for  digging  money,  they 
then  pretended  to  find  a  Gold  Bible,  of  which,  they  said,  the 
Book  of  Mormon  was  only  an  introduction.  This  latter  book 
was  at  length  fitted  for  the  press.  No  means  were  taken  by 
any  individual  to  suppress  its  publication :  no  one  apprehended 
any  danger  from  a  book,  originating  with  individuals  who  had 
neither  influence,  honesty  or  honor.  The  two  Josephs  and 
Hiram,  promised  to  show  me  the  plates,  after  the  Book  of 
Mormon  was  translated.  But,  afterwards,  they  pretended  to 
have  received  an  express  commandment,  forbidding  them  to 
show  the  plates.  Respecting  the  manner  of  receiving  and  trans- 
lating the  Book  of  Mormon,  their  statements  were  always  dis- 
cordant. The  elder  Joseph  would  say  that  he  had  seen  the 


THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON  31 

plates,  and  that  he  knew  them  to  be  gold;  at  other  times  he 
would  say  that  they  looked  like  gold ;  and  other  times  he  would 
say  that  he  had  not  seen  the  plates  at  all.  I  have  thus  briefly 
stated  a  few  of  the  facts,  in  relation  to  the  conduct  and  char- 
acter of  this  family  of  Smiths;  probably  sufficient  has  been 
stated  without  my  going  into  detail.  WILLIAM  STAFFORD. 

STATE  OF  NEW  YORK,  | 

Wayne  County.        j  SS' 

I  certify,  that  on  this  gth  day  of  December,  1833,  personally 
appeared  before  me  William  Stafford,  to  me  known,  and  made 
oath  to  the  truth  of  the  above  statement,  and  signed  the  same. 

TH.  P.  BALDWIN, 
Judge  of  Wayne  County  Court 

THE   AFFIDAVIT  OF   ISAAC    HALE. 

HARMONY,  Pa.,  March  20,  1834. 

I  first  became  acquainted  with  Joseph  Smith,  Jr.,  in  Novem- 
ber, 1825.  He  was  at  that  time  in  the  employ  of  a  set  of  men 
who  were  called  "money-diggers";  and  his  occupation  was  that 
of  seeing,  or  pretending  to  see  by  means  of  a  stone  placed  in 
his  hat,  and  his  hat  closed  over  his  face.  In  this  way  he  pre- 
tended to  discover  minerals  and  hidden  treasure.  His  appear- 
ance at  his  time,  was  that  of  a  careless  young  man — not  very 
well  educated,  and  very  saucy  and  insolent  to  his  father.  Smith, 
and  his  father,  with  several  other  "money-diggers,"  boarded  at 
my  house  while  they  were  employed  in  digging  for  a  mine  that 
they  supposed  /had  been  opened  and  worked  by  the  Spaniards, 
many  years  since.  Young  Smith  gave  the  "money-diggers"  great 
encouragement,  at  first,  but  when  they  had  arrived  in  digging, 
to  near  the  place  where  he  had  stated  an  immense  treasure 
would  be  found — he  said  the  enchantment  was  so  powerful  that 
he  could  not  see.  They  then  became  discouraged,  and  soon 
after  dispersed.  This  took  place  about  the  I7th  of  November, 
1825;  and  one  of  the  company  gave  me  his  note  for  $12.68  for 
his  board,  which  is  still  unpaid. 

After  these  occurrences,  young  Smith  made  several  visits  at 
my  house,  and  at  length  asked  my  consent  to  his  marrying  my 
daughter  Emma.  This  I  refused,  and  gave  my  reasons  for  so 
doing;  some  of  which  were,  that  he  was  a  stranger,  and  fol- 
lowed a  business  that  I  could  not  approve ;  he  then  left  the  place. 


32  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

Not  long  after  this,  he  returned,  and  while  I  was  absent  from 
home,  carried  off  my  daughter  into  the  state  of  New  York, 
where  they  were  married  without  my  approbation  or  consent. 
After  they  had  arrived  at  Palmyra,  N.  Y.,  Emma  wrote  to  me 
inquiring  whether  she  could  take  her  property,  consisting  of 
clothing,  furniture,  cows,  &.  I  replied  that  her  property  was 
safe  and  at  her  disposal.  In  a  short  time  they  returned,  bring- 
ing with  them  a  Peter  Ingersoll,  and  subsequently  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  they  would  move  out,  and  reside  upon  a  place 
near  my  residence. 

Smith  stated  to  me,  that  he  had  given  up  what  he  called 
"glass-looking,"  and  that  he  expected  to  work  hard  for  a  living, 
and  was  willing  to  do  so.  He  also  made  arrangements  with  my 
son  Alva  Hale,  to  go  to  Palmyra,  and  move  his  (Smith's) 
furniture,  &,  to  his  place.  He  then  returned  to  Palmyra,  and 
soon  after,  Alva,  agreeable  to  the  arrangement,  went  up  and 
returned  with  Smith  and  his  family.  Soon  after  this,  I  was 
informed  they  had  brought  a  wonderful  Book  of  Plates  down 
with  them.  I  was  shown  a  box  in  which  it  is  said  they  were 
contained,  which  had,  to  all  appearances,  been  used  as  a  glass 
box  of  the  common  window  glass.  I  was  allowed  to  feel  the 
weight  of  the  box,  and  they  gave  me  to  understand,  that  the 
Book  of  Plates  was  then  in  the  box — into  which,  however,  I 
was  not  allowed  to  look. 

I  inquired  of  Joseph  Smith,  Jr.,  who  was  to  be  the  first 
who  would  be  allowed  to  see  the  Book  of  Plates?  He  said  it 
was  a  young  child.  After  this,  I  became  dissatisfied,  and  in- 
formed him  that  if  there  was  anything  in  my  house  of  that 
description,  which  I  could  not  be  allowed  to  see,  he  must  take 
it  away;  if  he  did  not,  I  was  determined  to  see  it.  After  that, 
the  plates  were  said  to  be  hid  in  the  woods. 

About  this  time,  Martin  Harris  made  his  appearance  upon 
the  stage;  and  Smith  began  to  interpret  the  characters  or  hiero- 
glyphics which  he  said  were  engraven  upon  the  plates,  while 
Harris  wrote  down  the  interpretation.  It  was  said,  that  Harris 
wrote  down  one  hundred  and  sixteen  pages,  and  lost  them. 
Soon  after  this  happened,  Martin  Harris  informed  me  that  he 
must  have  a  greater  witness,  and  said  that  he  had  talked  with 
Joseph  about  it — Joseph  informed  him  that  he  could  not  or 
durst  not  show  him  the  plates,  but  that  he  (Joseph)  would  go 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  33 

into  the  woods  where  the  Book  of  Plates  was,  and  that  after 
he  came  back,  Harris  should  follow  his  track  in  the  snow,  and 
find  the  Book,  and  examine  it  for  himself.  Harris  informed 
me  afterwards,  that  he  followed  Smith's  directions,  and  could 
not  find  the  plates,  and  was  still  dissatisfied. 

The  next  day  after  this  happened,  I  went  to  the  house  where 
Joseph  Smith,  Jr.,  lived,  and  where  he  and  Harris  were  engaged 
in  the  translation  of  their  book.  Each  of  them  had  a  written 
piece  of  paper  which  they  were  comparing,  and  some  of  the 
words  were  "my  servant  seeketh  a  greater  witness,  but  no 
greater  witness  can  be  given  him."  There  was  also  something 
said  about  "three  that  were  to  see  the  thing" — meaning,  I  sup- 
posed, the  Book  of  Plates,  and  that  "*/  the  three  did  not  go 
exactly  according  to  the  orders,  the  thing  would  be  taken  from 
them"  I  inquired  whose  words  they  were,  and  was  informed 
by  Joseph  or  Emma,  (I  rather  think  it  was  the  former,)  that 
they  were  the  words  of  Jesus  Christ.  I  told  them,  that  I  con- 
sidered the  whole  of  it  a  delusion,  and  advised  them  to  abandon 
it.  The  manner  in  which  he  pretended  to  read  and  interpret, 
was  the  same  as  when  he  looked  for  the  money-diggers,  with 
the  stone  in  his  hat,  and  his  hat  over  his  face,  while  the  Book 
of  Plates  was  at  the  same  time  hid  in  the  woods! 

After  this,  Martin  Harris  went  away,  and  Oliver  Cowdery 
came  and  wrote  for  Smith  while  he  interpreted  as  above  de- 
scribed. This  is  the  same  Oliver  Cowdery,  whose  name  may  be 
found  in  the  Book  of  Mormon.  Cowdery  continued  a  scribe 
for  Smith  until  t/he  Book  of  Mormon  was  completed,  as  I  sup- 
posed and  understood. 

Joseph  Smith,  Jr.,  resided  near  me  for  some  time  after  this, 
and  I  had  a  good  opportunity  of  becoming  acquainted  with  him, 
and  somewhat  acquainted  with  his  associates,  and  I  conscien- 
tiously believe  from  the  facts  I  have  detailed,  and  from  many 
other  circumstances,  which  I  do  not  deem  it  necessary  to  relate, 
that  the  whole  Book  of  Mormon  (so  called)  is  a  silly  fabrica- 
tion of  falsehood  and  wickedness,  got  up  for  speculation,  and 
with  a  design  to  dupe  the  credulous  and  unwary — and  in  order 
that  its  fabricators  may  live  upon  the  spoils  of  those  who  swal- 
low the  deception.  ISAAC  HALE. 

Affirmed  to  and  subscribed  before  me,  March  20,  1834. 

CHARLES  DIMON,  J.  Peace. 


34  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN  OF 

STATE  OF  PENNSYLVANIA,  | 
Susquehanna  County.     J  SS' 

We,  the  subscribers,  associate  Judges  of  the  Court  of  Com- 
mon Pleas,  in  and  for  said  county,  do  certify  that  we  have  been 
many  years  personally  acquainted  with  Isaac  Hale,  of  Harmony 
township  in  this  county,  who  has  attested  the  foregoing  state- 
ment; and  that  he  is  a  man  of  excellent  moral  character,  and 
undoubted  veracity.  Witness  our  hands. 

WILLIAM    THOMPSON. 
DAVIS  DIMOCK. 
MARCH  21,  1834. 

THE  STATEMENT  OF  FIFTY-ONE  CITIZENS  OF  PALMYRA, 
NEW   YORK. 

PALMYRA,  December  4,  1833. 

We,  the  undersigned,  have  been  acquainted  with  the  Smith 
family  for  a  number  of  years,  while  they  resided  near  this 
place,  and  we  have  no  hesitation  in  saying,  that  we  consider 
them  destitute  of  that  moral  character,  which  ought  to  entitle 
them  to  the  confidence  of  any  community.  They  were  par- 
ticularly famous  for  visionary  projects,  spent  much  of  their 
time  in  digging  for  money  which  they  pretended  was  hid  in  the 
earth;  and  to  this  day,  large  excavations  may  be  seen  in  the 
earth,  not  far  from  their  residence,  where  they  used  to  spend 
their  time  in  digging  for  hidden  treasures.  Joseph  Smith, 
Senior,  and  his  son  Joseph,  were  in  particular  considered  en- 
tirely destitute  of  moral  character  and  addicted  to  vicious 
habits' 

Martin  Harris  was  a  man  who  had  acquired  a  handsome 
property,  and  in  matters  of  business  his  word  was  considered 
good;  but  on  moral  and  religious  subjects,  he  was  perfectly 
visionary, — sometimes  advocating  one  sentiment,  and  sometimes 
another.  And  in  reference  to  all  with  whom  we  were  ac- 
quainted, that  have  embraced  Mormonism  from  this  neighbor- 
hood, we  are  compelled  to  say,  were  very  visionary  and  most 
of  them  destitute  of  moral  character,  and  without  influence  in 
this  community;  and  this  may  account  why  they  were  permitted 
to  go  on  with  their  impositions  undisturbed.  It  was  not  sup- 
posed that  any  of  them  were  possessed  of  sufficient  character 
or  influence  to  make  any  one  believe  their  book  or  their  senti- 


THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON  35 

ments,  and  we  know  not  of  a  single  individual  in  this  vicinity 
that  puts  the  least  confidence  in  their  pretended  revelations. 
(Signed  by  fifty-one  citizens  of  Palmyra,  New  York.) 

THE  STATEMENT  OF  ELEVEN  CITIZENS  OF  MANCHESTER, 
NEW   YORK. 

MANCHESTER,  November  3,  1833. 

We,  the  undersigned,  being  personally  acquainted  with  the 
family  of  Joseph  Smith,  Sen.,  with  whom  the  celebrated  Gold 
Bible,  so-called,  originated,  state:  that  they  were  not  only  a 
lazy,  indolent  set  of  men,  but  also  intemperate;  and  their  word 
was  not  to  be  depended  upon;  and  that  we  are  truly  glad  to 
dispense  with  their  society. 

(Signed  by  eleven  citizens  of  Manchester,  New  York.) 

The  foregoing  affidavits  and  statements  were  first 
published  in  Howe's  "Mormonism  Unveiled,"  of  1834,* 
and,  subsequently,  in  Bennett's  "Mormonism  Exposed," 
of  1842,  from  which  I  have  copied  them.  Yet,  notwith- 
standing their  damaging  charges  and  the  fact  that  they 
have  been  before  the  public  for  eighty  years,  the  Mor- 
mons have  never  made  a  successful  attempt  to  refute 
them.  Indeed,  so  far  as  I  am  able  to  learn,  but  one  effort 
at  all  has  ever  been  made  to  clear  the  reputation  of  Joseph 
Smith  from  tfye  charges  made  against  him  by  his  old 
neighbors,  and  this  ended  in  ignominious  failure. 

In  the  year  1880,  the  Reorganized  Mormon  Church 
became  active  in  Cadillac,  Wexford  County,  Michigan, 
and  added  a  number  to  their  faith.  To  counteract  their 
influence,  one  Rev.  A.  Marsh,  through  a  brother  minister, 
Rev.  C.  C.  Thorne,  of  Manchester,  New  York,  secured 
the  statements  of  three  of  the  old  neighbors  of  the 
Smiths,  Dan  ford  Booth,  Orrin  Reed  and  William  Bryant, 
relative  to  their  poor  reputation,  and  published  them  in 

1  Howe's  book  was  republished  in  1840  under  the  title  of  "History  of 
Mormonism." 


36  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

the  Cadillac  News  of  April  6,  1880.     These  statements 
are  as  follows : 

I  knew  Joe  Smith,  personally  to  some  extent,  saw  him  fre- 
quently, knew  well  his  reputation,  he  was  a  lazy,  drinking  fellow, 
and  loose  in  his  habits  in  every  way. — Danford  Booth.  Smith's 
reputation  was  bad.  I  was  acquainted  with  Oliver  Cowdery. 
He  was  a  low  pettifogger,  the  cat's-paw  of  the  Smiths  to  do 
their  dirty  work. — Orrin  Reed.  I  knew  the  Smiths,  but  did  not 
associate  with  them,  for  they  were  too  low  to  associate  with. 
There  was  no  truth  in  them.  Their  aim  was  to  get  in  where 
they  could  get  property.  They  broke  up  homes  in  that  way. 
Smith  had  no  regular  business.  He  had  frequent  revelations. 
— Wm.  Bryant. 

This  aroused  the  Mormons  to  action,  and  the  fol- 
lowing spring  two  of  their  elders  went  to  New  York, 
concealed  their  identity,  interviewed  the  individuals  men- 
tioned, with  others,  and,  returning,  published  the  in- 
terviews in  the  issue  of  the  Saints'  Herald,  of  Piano, 
Illinois,  for  June  I,  1881.  While  these  purported  inter- 
views do  not  entirely  remove  the  traditional  stigma  from 
the  character  of  Smith  and  his  associates,  it  must  be  con- 
ceded that,  if  they  were  correct,  these  individuals  stood 
somewhat  higher  in  the  moral  and  social  scale  than  was 
before  believed. 

During  the  interview  with  Mr.  Bryant,  this  gentleman 
is  said  to  have  denied  being  personally  acquainted  with 
the  Smiths,  but  stated  that  they  were  considered  a  shift- 
less set  and  that  Joseph  had  the  reputation  of  being  a  liar. 
Mr.  Booth  is  said  to  have  stated  that  he  knew  nothing  of 
the  Smiths  or  their  character,  and  to  have  denied  that 
he  ever  had  any  interview  with  Rev.  Mr.  Thorne  on  the 
subject  of  Mormonism  in  which  he  made  the  statements 
as  published  in  the  Cadillac  News,  while  Mr.  Reed  is 
also  said  to  have  stated  that  he  did  not  know  the  Smiths 
and  that  he  had  not  given  a  statement  to  Thorne  for  pub- 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  37 

lication.  These  purported  interviews  have  been  repeat- 
edly published  as  an  answer  to  the  affidavits  and  state- 
ments heretofore  given.1 

But  this  effort  to  relieve  the  reputation  of  Smith  from 
the  stains  that  had  been  placed  upon  it,  ended  in  bitter 
defeat.  Within  six  weeks  from  the  time  of  the  publica- 
tion of  these  purported  interviews,  two  of  the  parties 
mentioned,  Dan  ford  Booth  and  Orrin  Reed,  with  another 
who  was  interviewed,  J.  H.  Gilbert,  came  out  with  affi- 
davits,2 in  which  they  affirmed  that  they  had  been  grossly 
misrepresented.  Their  affidavits  follow : 

Danford  Booth,  of  the  town  of  Manchester  and  county  of 
Ontario,  N.  Y.,  being  duly  affirmed,  deposes:  He  has  read  the 
article  in  the  Cadillac  Weekly  News  of  April  6th,  1880,  re- 
specting "Cowdery  and  the  Smith  family"  over  the  signature  of 
C.  C.  Thorne.  The  interview  therein  mentioned  between  de- 
ponent and  Thorne  did  take  place  The  matters  therein  set 
forth,  alleged  to  have  been  stated  by  the  deponent  to  Thorne, 
were  so  stated  by  deponent  to  Thorne.  He  has  read  also  in  a 
paper  called  the  Saints'  Herald,  of  June  ist,  1881,  an  article  pur- 
porting to  give  what  was  said  in  an  interview  between  W.  H. 
Kelley  and  another  party  and  the  deponent,  in  which  it  is  stated 
that  deponent  informed  said  parties  that  deponent  and  Thorne 
never  had  an  interview  as  alleged  by  Thorne.  Deponent  de- 
clares that  he  did  not  so  inform  said  parties,  and  that  he  has 
no  recollection  of  such  a  question  being  asked  him  by  them. 

(Signed)  DANFORD  BOOTH. 

Sworn  to  and  subscribed  before  me,  July  ist,  1881. 

(Signed)  N.  K.  COLE,  J.P. 

Orrin  Reed,  of  the  township  of  Manchester,  county  of 
Ontario,  N.  Y.,  being  duly  affirmed,  deposes:  His  age  is  77. 
He  was  born  in  the  town  of  Farmington,  about  four  miles  from 

1  They  may  be  found  in  the  "Braden-Kelley  Debate,"  pp.  101-104,  and 
"From  Palmyra  to  Independence,"  pp.  341-378. 

a  The  county  clerk  of  Ontario  County,  New  York,  informs  me  that 
these  affidavits,  with  an  affidavit  of  Samantha  Payne,  an  old  neighbor  of 
the  Smiths,  and  a  letter  of  Rev.  Mr.  Thorne,  are  now  on  file  in  the 
clerk's  office  at  Canandaigua. 


38  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

what  is  called  "Mormon  Hill."  During  the  last  forty-six  years 
he  has  resided  in  the  town  of  Manchester,  and  in  the  same 
school  district  in  which  Joseph  Smith  and  family,  of  Mormon 
notoriety,  reside^  and  three-fourths  of  a  mile  from  "Mormon 
Hill."  He  has  read  an  article  published  in  the  Cadillac  News  of 
April  6th,  1880,  respecting  "Cowdery  and  the  Smith  family," 
over  the  signature  of  C.  C.  Thome.  The  matters  therein  set 
forth  and  alleged  to  have  been  stated  by  deponent  to  Thorne 
were  so  stated  by  deponent,  at  the  time  and  in  the  manner  stated 
in  said  published  article.  (Signed)  ORRIN  REED. 

Affirmed  and  subscribed  before  me,  June  2pth,  1881. 

(Signed)  N.  K.  COLE,  J.P. 

John  H.  Gilbert,  of  the  town  of  Palmyra,  Wayne  county, 
N.  Y.,  being  duly  sworn,  deposes:  That  in  the  article  published 
in  the  Saints'  Herald,  at  Piano,  111.,  June  ist,  1881,  over  the 
signature  of  W.  H.  Kelley,  purporting  to  give  an  interview  with 
the  deponent  on  Mormonism,  the  deponent  is  grossly  misrepre- 
sented in  almost  every  particular.  Words  are  put  in  the  mouth 
of  the  deponent  that  he  never  uttered.  The  pretended  answers 
to  the  questions  that  the  deponent  did  answer,  are  totally  at 
variance  with  the  answers  that  the  deponent  really  gave.  The 
deponent  believes  that  such  misrepresentation  was  done  de- 
signedly. (Signed)  JOHN  H.  GILBERT. 

Sworn  to  and  subscribed  before  me,  July  I2th,  1881. 

(Signed)  M.  C.  FINLEY,  J.P. 

The  affidavits  of  Booth,  Reed  and  Gilbert  plainly  re- 
fute the  only  attempt  that  Mormonism  has  ever  made  to 
secure  from  the  old  citizens  of  Palmyra  and  Manchester 
testimonies  favorable  to  the  Smiths  and  their  followers, 
and  so  leave  their  reputation  about  where  it  was  before. 


THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON  3» 


CHAPTER   III. 

The  Three  Witnesses  to  the  Book  of  Mormon — David  Whitmer 
— Martin  Harris — Oliver  Cowdery. 

The  three  special  witnesses  to  the  Book  of  Mormon 
were  David  Whitmer,  Martin  Harris  and  Oliver  Cow- 
dery. Whitmer  was  an  ordinary  farmer  of  Fayette, 
Seneca  County,  New  York;  Harris  was  a  well-to-do 
farmer  of  Palmyra,  and  Cowdery  was  a  wandering 
schoolmaster.  Whitmer  and  Harris  possessed  inferior 
educations;  Cowdery  was  probably  above  the  ordinary 
in  this  respect  and  was  a  ready  scribe,  because  of  which 
he  was  chosen  by  Smith  as  his  amanuensis  and  copied 
from  his  lips  the  entire  Book  of  Mormon,  as  we  now  have 
it,  with  the  possible  exception  of  a  few  pages. 

Before  these  witnesses  were  permitted  to  view  the 
plates,  the  Lord  spoke  to  them  through  Joseph,  as  fol- 
lows: 

Behold,  I  say  unto  you,  that  you  must  rely  upon  my  word, 
which  if  you  do,  with  full  purpose  of  heart,  you  shall  have  a 
view  of  the  plates,  and  also  of  the  breastplate,  the  sword  of 
Laban,  the  Urim  and  Thummim,  which  were  given  to  the  brother 
of  Jared  upon  the  mount,  when  he  talked  with  the  Lord  face 
to  face,  and  the  miraculous  directors  which  were  given  to  Lehi 
while  in  the  wilderness,  on  the  borders  of  the  Red  Sea;  and  it 
is  by  your  faith  that  you  shall  obtain  a  view  of  them,  even  by 
that  faith  which  was  had  by  the  prophets  of  old. 

And  after  that  you  have  obtained  faith,  and  have  seen  them 
with  your  eyes,  you  shall  testify  of  them,  by  the  power  of  God; 
and  this  you  shall  do  that  my  servant  Joseph  Smith,  Jr.,  may 
not  be  destroyed,  that  I  may  bring  about  my  righteous  purposes 
unto  the  children  of  men,  in  this  work.  And  ye  shall  testify 
that  you  have,  seen  them,  even  as  my  servant  Joseph  Smith,  Jr., 
(4) 


40  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

has  seen  them,  for  it  is  by  my  power  that  he  has  seen  them, 
and  it  is  because  he  had  faith;  and  he  has  translated  the  book, 
even  that  part  which  I  have  commanded  him,  and  as  your  Lord 
and  your  God  liveth  it  is  true. — Doctrine  and  Covenants,  Sec.  15. 

Subsequent  to  this,  these  men  published  the  testimony 
already  given,  in  which  they  affirmed  that  an  angel  of 
God  had  shown  them  the  plates  and  that  the  voice  of  God 
had  declared  that  the  translation  was  His  gift  and  by 
His  power. 

In  reference  to  this  testimony,  one  of  three  things  is 
true:  they  either  actually  saw  the  plates  and  what  they 
described  concerning  them  really  occurred,  or  they  were 
themselves  deceived,  or  their  testimony  is  part  of  a  grand 
deception  of  which  they  were  among  the  prime  movers. 

The  last  explanation  of  the  part  played  by  the  three 
witnesses  in  the  genesis  of  Mormonism  I  believe  to  be 
the  true  one,  for,  while  Whitmer  stubbornly  maintained 
the  truthfulness  of  his  testimony  up  to  the  very  time  of 
his  death,  Harris,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Mormon  move- 
ment, made  certain  assertions  to  his  relatives  and  ac- 
quaintances which  go  to  show  that  with  him  Mormonism 
was  only  a  cold-blooded  money  proposition ;  while  Cow- 
dery,  in  1839,  published  a  full  recantation  and,  in  1840 
or  1841,  became  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Protestant 
Church  of  Tiffin,  Ohio,  serving  it  later  in  the  capacity 
of  clerk  and  Sunday-school  superintendent. 

DAVID    WHITMER. 

The  first  connection  of  David  Whitmer  with  Mor- 
monism was  in  June,  1829,  when  he  went  to  Harmony, 
Pennsylvania,  where  Smith  and  Cowdery  were  at  work 
upon  the  translation,  and  brought  them  back  to  the  home 
of  his  father,  Peter  Whitmer,  in  Fayette,  New  York. 
Shortly  after  this,  in  the  same  month,  he  was  baptized 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  41 

by  Joseph  in  Seneca  Lake  and  was  ordained  an  elder, 
and  when  the  Mormon  Church  was  organized  at  his 
father's  house  on  April  6,  1830,*  he  became  one  of  its 
charter  members.  In  1831,  with  the  larger  part  of  the 
church  in  New  York,  he  removed  to  Kirtland  and  subse- 
quently to  Missouri,  where  he  was  cut  off  from  the 
church  April  13,  1838.  After  this  he  settled  at  Rich- 
mond, Missouri,  where  he  lived  until  his  death,  January 
25,  1888. 

Whitmer,  undoubtedly,  adhered  to  his  testimony  up 
to  the  very  last.  In  a  statement  issued  March  19,  1881, 
he  says: 

Unto  All  Nations,  Kindred,  Tongues  and  People,  unto   Whom 

These  Presents  Shall  Come: 

It  having  been  represented  by  one  John  Murphy,  of  Polo, 
Caldwell  County,  Mo.,  that  I,  in  a  conversation  with  him  last 
summer,  denied  my  testimony  as  one  of  the  three  witnesses  to 
the  "Book  of  Mormon." 

To  the  end,  therefore,  that  he  may  understand  me  now,  if 
he  did  not  then ;  and  that  the  world  may  know  the  truth,  I  wish 
now,  standing  as  it  were,  in  the  very  sunset  of  life,  and  in  the 
fear  of  God,  once  for  all  to  make  this  public  statement : 

That  I  have  never  at  any  time  denied  that  testimony  or  any 
part  thereof,  which  has  so  long  since  been  published  with  that 
Book,  as  one  o/f  the  three  witnesses.  Those  who  know  me  best, 
well  know  that  I  have  always  adhered  to  that  testimony.  And 
that  no  man  may  be  misled  or  doubt  my  present  views  in  regard 
to  the  same,  I  do  again  affirm  the  truth  of  all  of  my  state- 
ments, as  then  made  and  published. 

"He  that  hath  an  ear  to  hear  let  him  hear;"  it  was  no  delu- 
sion !  What  is  written  is  written,  and  he  that  readeth  let  him 
understand. 

And  that  no  one  may  be  deceived  or  misled  by  this  state- 


1  Whitmer,  in  the  later  years  of  his  life,  denied  that  the  church  was 
founded  on  April  6,  1830.  He  says:  "It  is  all  a  mistake  about  the 
church  being  organized  on  April  6,  1830,  as  I  will  show.  We  were  as 
fully  organized — spiritually — before  April  6th  as  we  were  on  that  day." — 
Address  to  All  Believers  in  Christ,  p.  33. 


43  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OP 

ment,  I  wish  here  to  state:  that  I  do  not  endorse  polygamy  or 
spiritual  wifeism.  It  is  a  great  evil,  shocking  to  the  moral  sense, 
and  the  more  so,  because  practiced  in  the  name  of  religion.  It 
is  of  man  and  not  of  God,  and  is  especially  forbidden  in  the 
Book  of  Mormon  itself. 

I  do  not  endorse  the  change  of  the  name  of  the  church,  for 
as  the  wife  takes  the  name  of  her  husband  so  should  the  church 
of  the  Lamb  of  God  take  the  name  of  its  head,  even  Christ 
himself.  It  is  the  Church  of  Christ. 

As  to  the  High  Priesthood,  Jesus  Christ  himself  is  the  last 
Great  High  Priest,  this  too  after  the  order  of  Melchisedec,  as  I 
understand  the  Holy  Scriptures. 

Finally,  I  do  not  endorse  any  of  the  teachings  c  "  the  so- 
called  Mormons,  of  Latter  Day  Saints,  which  are  in  conflict  with 
the  gospel  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  as  taught  in 
the  Bible  and  Book  of  Mormon;  for  the  same  gospel  is  plainly 
taught  in  both  of  these  books  as  I  understand  the  word  of 
God. 

And  if  any  man  doubt  should  he  not  carefully  and  honestly 
read  and  understand  the  same,  before  presuming  to  sit  in  judg- 
ment and  condemning  the  light  which  shineth  in  darkness,  and 
showeth  the  way  of  eternal  life  as  pointed  out  by  the  unerring 
hand  of  God. 

In  the  spirit  of  Christ  who  hath  said,  "Follow  thou  me,  for 
I  am  the  life,  the  light  and  the  way,"  I  submit  this  statement 
to  the  world.  God  in  whom  I  trust  being  my  judge  as  to  the 
sincerity  of  my  motives  and  the  faith  and  hope  that  is  in  me  of 
eternal  life. 

My  sincere  desire  is  that  the  world  may  be  benefitted  by  this 
plain  and  simple  statement  of  the  truth. 

And  all  the  honor  be  to  the  Father,  the  Son  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,  which  is  one  God.  Amen.  DAVID  WHITMER. 

RICHMOND,  Mo.,  March  19,  1881. 

To  this  statement  is  subjoined  the  following  certifi- 
cate: 

We,  the  undersigned  citizens  of  Richmond,  Ray  County,  Mo., 
where  David  Whitmer  has  resided  since  the  year  A.  D.  1838, 
certify  that  we  have  been  long  and  intimately  acquainted  with 
him  and  know  him  to  be  a  man  of  the  highest  integrity,  and  of 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  43 

undoubted   truth  and  veracity     Given  at  Richmond,   Mo.,  this 
March  19,  A.  D.  1881. 

Gen.  Alexander  W.  Doniphan.  Hon.  Geo.  W.  Dunn,  Judge 
of  the  Fifth  Judicial  Circuit.  Thos.  D.  Woodson,  President  of 
Ray  Co.  Savings  Bank.  J.  T.  Child,  editor  of  Conservator.  H. 
C  Garner,  Cashier  of  Ray  Co.  Savings  Bank.  L.  C.  Cantwell, 
Postmaster,  Richmond.  Geo.  I.  Wasson,  Mayor.  Jas.  A.  Davis, 
County  Collector.  C.  J.  Huges,  Probate  Judge  and  Presiding 
Justice  of  Ray  County  Court.  Geo.  W.  Trigg,  County  Clerk. 
W.  W.  Mosby,  M.D.  W.  A.  Holman,  County  Treasurer.  J.  S. 
Hughes,  Banker,  Richmond.  James  Hughes,  Banker,  Richmond. 
D.  P.  Whitmer,  Attorney-at-law.  Hon.  James  W.  Black,  Attor- 
ney-at-law.  Thos.  McGinnis,  ex-Sheriff  Ray  County.  J.  P. 
Quisenberry,  Merchant.  W.  R.  Holman,  Furniture  Merchant. 
Lewis  Slaughter,  Recorder  of  Deeds.  Geo.  W.  Buchanan,  M.D. 
A.  K.  Reyburn. 

In  view  of  the  overwhelming  evidences  which  clearly 
established  that  the  Book  of  Mormon  is  a  fraud,  two  ex- 
planations may  be  given  of  the  adherence  of  David  Whit- 
mer to  his  original  testimony  up  to  the  time  of  his  death : 
first,  he  may  himself  have  been  the  victim  of  deception 
and  may  have  honestly  believed  that  he  saw  the  plates; 
or,  being  fully  cognizant  of  the  imposture,  he  may  have 
preferred  to  die  with  the  world  believing  that  he  was 
deceived  rather  than  with  it  believing  that  he  was  a  de- 
ceiver. In  either  case  his  story  was,  evidently,  not  ac- 
cepted even  by  those  who  certified  to  his  integrity  and 
veracity,  for  but  few,  if  any,  of  them  were  adherents  of 
the  Mormon  faith. 

MARTIN    HARRIS. 

The  first  that  we  hear  of  Martin  Harris  in  connection 
with  Mormonism,  was  in  the  fall  of  1827,  when  he  gave 
Joseph  fifty  dollars  to  enable  him  to  remove  from  Man- 
chester to  the  home  of  his  wife's  parents  in  Harmony, 
Pennsylvania.  In  the  month  of  February,  following,  he 


44  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

came  to  Harmony,  obtained  a  transcript  of  the  char- 
acters on  the  plates  and  took  them  to  Professor  Anthon, 
of  New  York  City.  He  then  returned  home,  arranged 
his  business,  and,  going  to  Harmony,  began  to  write  for 
Joseph,  April  12,  1828,  continuing  as  his  scribe  until  he 
lost  the  116  pages  of  manuscript,  when  he  was  deposed. 
He  was  baptized  in  April,  1830,  and  removed  with  the 
church  to  Kirtland,  Ohio,  in  1831.  In  June  of  the 
same  year,  with  Joseph  Smith  and  other  elders,  he  left 
Kirtland  for  Missouri,  where  he  was  present  at  the 
dedication  of  the  Temple  lot,  at  Independence,  August 
3,  1831.  He  was  subsequently  cut  off,  after  which  he 
lectured  against  Mormonism  both  in  this  country  and  in 
England,1  but  later  became  somewhat,  though  probably 
not  entirely,  reconciled  to  the  church,  and  removed  to 
Utah  in  August,  1870,  where  he  died,  at  Smithfield, 
Cache  County,  in  July,  1875. 

It  is  claimed  that  Harris  never  denied  his  testimony, 
but  adhered  to  it  up  to  the  time  of  his  death.  As  proof 
of  this,  the  following  letters  to  H.  B.  Emerson,  of  New 
Richmond,  Ohio,  are  submitted: 

SMITHFIELD,  Utah,  Nov.  23,  1870. 
Mr.  Emerson, 

SIR: — I  received  your  favor.  In  reply  I  will  say  concerning 
the  plates,  I  do  say  that  the  angel  did  show  to  me  the  plates 
containing  the  Book  of  Mormon.  Further,  the  translation  that 
I  carried  to  Professor  Anthon  was  copied  from  these  same 
plates;  also,  that  the  professor  did  testify  to  it  being  a  correct 
translation.  I  do  firmly  believe  and  do  know  that  Joseph  Smith 
was  a  prophet  of  God;  for  without,  I  know  he  could  not  have 


1  This  is  sometimes  denied.  The  proof  of  Harris  lecturing  against 
Mormonism  in  this  country  is  to  be  found  in  the  charges  to  that  effect 
published  in  the  Mormon  papers  after  his  apostasy.  While,  as  to  his 
lecturing  in  England,  the  Josephite,  Elder  Charles  Derry,  says  that  he 
went  there  not  to  oppose  Mormonism  in  general,  but  only  the  pretensions 
of  Brigham  Young  ("Joseph  the  Seer,"  p.  106,  and  other  works). 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  45 

had  that  gift;  neither  could  he  have  translated  the  same.  I  can 
give,  if  you  require  it,  one  hundred  witnesses  to  the  proof  of 
the  Book  of  Mormon.  I  defy  any  man  to  show  me  any  passage 
of  Scripture  that  I  am  not  posted  on  or  familiar  with.  1  will 
answer  any  question  you  feel  like  asking  to  the  best  of  my 
knowledge,  if  you  can  rely  on  my  testimony  of  the  same.  In 
conclusion,  I  can  say  that  I  arrived  in  Utah  safe,  in  good  health 
and  spirits,  considering  the  long  journey.  I  am  quite  well  at 
present,  and  have  been,  generally  speaking,  since  I  arrived. 
With  many  respects,  I  remain  your  humble  friend, 

MARTIN  HARRIS. 

SMITHFIELD,  Cache  Co.,  Utah,  January,  1871. 
To  H.  Emerson, 

DEAR  SIR: — Your  second  letter,  dated  December,  1870,  came 
duly  to  hand.  I  am  truly  glad  to  see  a  spirit  of  inquiry  mani- 
fested therein.  I  reply  by  a  borrowed  hand,  as  my  sight  has 
failed  me  too  much  to  write  myself.  Your  questions: 

Question  i.  "Did  you  go  to  England  to  lecture  against 
Mormonism  ?" 

Answer.  I  answer  emphatically,  No,  I  did  not.  No  man 
ever  heard  me  in  any  way  deny  the  truth  of  the  Book  of  Mor- 
mon, the  administration  of  the  angel  that  showed  me  the  plates; 
nor  the  organization  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter- 
day  Saints,  under  the  administration  of  Joseph  Smith,  Jun.,  the 
prophet  whom  the  Lord  raised  up  for  that  purpose  in  these 
latter  days  that  He  may  show  forth  His  power  and  glory.  The 
Lord  has  shown  me  these  things  by  His  Spirit,  by  the  admin- 
istration of'  holy  angels,  and  confirmed  the  same  with  signs 
following,  step  by  step,  as  the  work  has  progressed,  for  the 
space  of  fifty-three  years. 

I  am,  very  respectfully, 

MARTIN  HARRIS,  Sen. 

Without  denying  the  genuineness  of  the  foregoing 
letters,  I  now  present  to  the  reader  the  evidence  which 
goes  to  prove  that  Martin  Harris,  while  a  resident  of 
Palmyra,  was  of  a  greedy  disposition,  possessed  an  un- 
governable temper,  lived  a  questionable  life  and  held  ex- 
travagant religious  views — the  kind  of  character  that 


46  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

would  not  hesitate  to  sign  a  false  statement,  provided  it 
might  be  to  his  pecuniary  interests  to  do  so.  The  follow- 
ing is  a  letter  of  his  wife,  Lucy  Harris,  which  was  first 
published  in  Howe's  "Mormonism  Unveiled" : 

PALMYRA,  November  29,  1833. 

Being  called  upon  to  give  a  statement  to  the  world  of  what 
I  know  respecting  the  Gold  Bible  speculation,  and  also  of  the 
conduct  of  Martin  Harris,  my  husband,  who  is  a  leading  char- 
acter among  the  Mormons,  I  do  it  free  from  prejudice,  realizing 
that  I  must  give  an  account  at  the  bar  of  God  for  what  I  say. 
Martin  Harris  was  once  industrious,  attentive  to  his  domestic 
concerns,  and  thought  to  be  worth  about  ten  thousand  dollars. 
He  is  naturally  quick  in  his  temper,  and  in  his  mad-fits  fre- 
quently abuses  all  who  may  dare  to  oppose  him  in  his  wishes. 
However  strange  it  may  seem,  I  have  been  a  great  sufferer  by 
his  unreasonable  conduct.  At  different  times  while  I  lived  with 
him,  he  has  whipped,  kicked  and  turned  me  out  of  the  house. 
About  a  year  previous  to  the  report  being  raised  that  Smith  had 
found  gold  plates,  he  became  very  intimate  with  the  Smith 
family,  and  said  he  believed  Joseph  could  see  in  his  stone  any 
thing  he  wished.  After  this  he  apparently  became  very  san- 
guine in  his  belief,  and  frequently  said  he  would  have  no  one 
in  his  house  that  did  not  believe  in  Mormonism;  and  because  I 
would  not  give  credit  to  the  report  he  made  about  the  gold 
plates,  he  became  more  austere  towards  me.  In  one  of  his  fits 
of  rage  he  struck  me  with  the  butt-end  of  a  whip,  which  I 
think  had  been  used  for  driving  oxen,  and  was  about  the  size 
of  my  thumb,  and  three  or  four  feet  long.  He  beat  me  on  the 
head  four  or  five  times,  and  the  next  day  turned  mp  ->ut  of 
doors  twice,  and  beat  me  in  a  shameful  manner.  The  next  day 
I  went  to  the  town  of  Marion,  and  while  there  my  flesh  was 
black  and  blue  in  many  places.  His  main  complaint  against  me 
was,  that  I  was  always  trying  to  hinder  his  making  money. 

When  he  found  out  that  I  was  going  to  Mr.  Putnam's,  in 
Marion,  he  said  he  was  going  too,  that  they  had  sent  for  him 
to  pay  them  a  visit.  On  arriving  at  Mr.  Putnam's,  I  asked  them 
if  they  had  sent  for  Mr.  Harris ;  they  replied,  they  knew  nothing 
about  it;  he,  however,  came  in  the  evening.  Mrs.  Putnam  told 
him  never  to  strike  or  abuse  me  any  more;  he  then  denied  ever 


THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON  *1 

striking  me;  she  was  however  convinced  that  he  lied,  as  the 
marks  of  his  beating  me  were  plain  to  be  seen,  and  remained 
more  than  two  weeks.  Whether  the  Mormon  religion  be  true 
or  false,  I  leave  the  world  to  judge,  for  its  effects  upon  Martin 
Harris  have  been  to  make  him  more  cross,  turbulent  and  abusive 
to  me.  His  whole  object  was  to  make  money  by  it.  I  will 
give  one  circumstance  in  proof  of  it.  One  day,  while  at  Peter 
Harris's  house,  I  told  him  he  had  better  leave  the  company  of 
the  Smiths,  as  their  religion  was  false;  to  which  he  replied: 
"If  you  would  let  me  alone,  I  could  make  money  by  it." 

It  is  in  vain  for  the  Mormons  to  deny  these  facts;  for  they 
are  all  well  known  to  most  of  his  former  neighbors.  The  man 
has  now  become  rather  an  object  of  pity;  he  has  spent  most  of 
his  property,  and  lost  the  confidence  of  his  former  friends.  If 
he  had  labored  as  hard  on  his  farm  as  he  has  to  make  Mormons, 
he  might  now  be  one  of  the  wealthiest  farmers  in  the  country. 
He  now  spends  his  time  in  traveling  through  the  country  spread- 
ing the  delusion  of  Mormonism,  and  has  no  regard  whatever 
for  his  family. 

With  regard  to  Mr.  Harris's  being  intimate  with  Mrs. 
Haggard,  as  has  been  reported,  it  is  but  justice  to  myself  to  state 
what  facts  have  come  within  my  own  observation,  to  show 
whether  I  had  any  grounds  for  jealousy  or  not.  Mr.  Harris 
was  very  intimate  with  this  family,  for  some  time  previous  to 
their  going  to  Ohio.  They  lived  a  while  in  a  house  which  he 
had  built  for  their  accommodation,  and  here  he  spent  the  most 
of  his  leisure  hours ;  and  made  her  presents  of  articles  from  the 
store  and  hovfse.  He  carried  these  presents  in  a  private  manner, 
and  frequently  when  he  went  there,  he  would  pretend  to  be 
going  to  some  of  the  neighbors,  on  an  errand,  or  to  be  going 
into  the  fields.  After  getting  out  of  sight  of  the  house,  he 
would  steer  a  straight  course  for  Haggard's  house,  especially 
if  Haggard  was  from  home.  At  times  when  Haggard  was  from 
home,  he  would  go  there  in  the  manner  above  described,  and 
stay  till  twelve  or  one  o'clock  at  night,  and  sometimes  until 
daylight. 

If  his  intentions  were  evil,  the  Lord  will  judge  him  accord- 
ingly, but  if  good,  he  did  not  mean  to  let  his  left  hand  know 
what  his  right  hand  did.  The  above  statement  of  facts  I  affirm 
to  be  true.  LUCY  HARRIS. 


48  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

In  a  statement,  published  by  Howe  and  dated  at 
Palmyra,  November  28,  1833,  Mrs.  Abigail  Harris,  sister- 
in-law  of  Martin,  says: 

In  the  second  month  following,  Martin  Harris  and  his  wife 
were  at  my  house.  In  conversation  about  Mormonites,  she  ob- 
served that  she  wished  her  husband  would  quit  them,  as  she 
believed  it  was  all  false  and  a  delusion.  To  which  I  heard  Mr. 
Harris  reply:  "What  if  it  is  a  lie;  if  you  will  let  me  alone  I 
will  make  money  out  of  it!"  I  was  both  an  eye  and  ear  witness 
of  what  has  been  stated  above. 

Henry  Harris,  brother  of  Martin,  made  oath  to  the 
following  statement  before  Jonathan  Lapham,  justice  of 
the  peace: 

Joseph  Smith,  Jr.,  Martin  Harris  and  others,  used  to  meet 
together  in  private,  a  while  before  the  gold  plates  were  found, 
and  were  familiarly  known  by  the  name  of  the  "Gold  Bible 
Company."  They  were  regarded  by  the  community  in  which 
they  lived,  as  a  lying  and  indolent  set  of  men,  and  no  confidence 
could  be  placed  in  them. 

After  Harris  had  apostatized,  Smith  denounced  him 
in  the  Elders'  Journal1  of  August,  1838 — 

as  so  far  beneath  contempt  that  a  notice  of  him  would  be  too 
great  a  sacrifice  for  a  gentleman  to  make.  The  church  exerted 
some  restraint  on  him,  but  now  he  has  given  loose  to  all  kinds 
of  abominations,  lying,  cheating,  swindling,  with  all  kinds  of 
debauchery. 

Such  a  man  was  Martin  Harris,  one  of  the  three 
witnesses  to  the  Book  of  Mormon.  With  such  a  char- 
acter, who  can  doubt  that  he  would  scruple  to  sign  a  lie 
or  to  maintain  its  truthfulness  up  to  the  very  hour  of  his 
death? 


iNot   having   the   Elders'   Journal   at  hand,   I   have   copied  this   from 
the  "Braden-Kelley  Debate,"  p.  173. 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  49 

OLIVER    COWDERY. 

Oliver  Cowdery  was  born  in  the  town  of  Wells,  Rut- 
land County,  Vermont,  October,  1805.  When  about 
twenty  years  of  age,  he  removed  to  the  State  of  New 
York,  where  he  was  employed  as  a  clerk  in  a  store  until 
the  winter  of  1828-9,  when  he  taught  school  in  the  town 
of  Manchester.1  Here  he  became  acquainted  with  the 
Smiths,  and  through  them  learned  of  Joseph  and  the 
plates.  In  April,  1829,  he  went  to  Harmony,  Pennsyl- 
vania, where  he  became  the  celebrated  scribe  of  Mor- 
monism.  He  was  baptized  by  Joseph  in  May,  1829,  and 
continued  with  the  church  up  to  the  time  of  his  expul- 
sion, April  12,  1838.  After  this  he  removed  to  Tiffin, 
Ohio,  where  he  practiced  law,  and,  renouncing  Mormon- 
ism,  united  with  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church.  Later, 
he  went  to  Elkhorn,  Wisconsin,  where  he  followed  his 
profession  and  became  a  candidate  for  the  Legislature, 
but  was  defeated  because  of  his  former  connection  with 
Mormonism.2  The  Mormons  claim  that  in  1848  he  was 
rebaptized  into  the  church  at  Kanesville,  Iowa,  by  Apos- 
tle Orson  Hyde,  and  that  he  contemplated  moving  to 
Salt  Lake,  but  was  cut  off  by  death  before  this  desire 
was  realized.  He  died  at  Richmond,  Missouri,  in  March, 
1850,  while  visiting  his  brother-in-law,  David  Whitmer. 
Whitmer  declares  that  on  his  death-bed  Cowdery  charged 
him  to  be  true  to  his  testimony  to  the  Book  of  Mormon.1 
However  true  this  last  statement  may  be,  and  I  neither 
affirm  nor  deny  it,  we  have  positive  proof  that  Oliver 
Cowdery  did,  in  1839,  renounce  Mormonism,  and  did, 

1  Lorenzo    Saunders,    whose    letter    is    published    in    Chapter    IX.,    says 
that  he  was  in  league  with  the  Smiths  as  early  as   1826. 

2  This    information    comes    from    a    letter    of    Judge    Gibson,    of    Tiffin, 
Ohio,  to  Th.   Gregg,  of  Hamilton,  Illinois,  and  dated  August  3,   1882. 

*  See  "Whitmer's  Address,"  p.  8. 


60  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

later,  become  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Protestant 
Church.  The  evidence  in  support  of  this  is  so  clear 
and  conclusive  that  it  is  sheer  folly  for  the  Mormons  to 
deny  it. 

In  1839  the  following  "Defense  in  a  Rehearsal  of  My 
Grounds  for  Separating  Myself  from  the  Latter  Day 
Saints"  *  was  published  by  Cowdery,  the  printing  being 
done  at  Pressley's  job-office,  Norton,  Ohio: 

DEAR  PEOPLE  OF  GOD: — I  offer  you  a  "Defense"  which  I  am 
grieved  to  make,  but  my  opposers  have  put  me  to  the  necessity, 
and  so  far  as  my  memory  serves,  I  pledge  my  veracity  for  the 
correctness  of  the  account 

I  deny  that  I  have  ever  conspired  with  any,  or  ever  exerted 
any  influence  to  destroy  the  reputation  of  the  First  Elder,  al- 
though evidence  which  is  to  be  credited  assures  me  that  he  has 
done  everything  he  could  to  injure  my  standing,  and  his  in- 
fluence has  been  considerably  exerted  to  destroy  my  reputation 
and,  I  fear,  my  life. 

You  will  remember  in  the  meantime,  that  those  who  seek 
to  villify  my  character  have  been  constantly  encouraged  by  him. 
There  was  a  time  when  I  thought  myself  able  to  prove  to  the 
satisfaction  of  every  man  that  the  translator  of  the  Book  of 
Mormon  was  worthy  of  the  appellation  of  a  Seer  and  a  Prophet 
of  the  Lord,  and  in  which  he  held  over  me  a  mysterious  power 
which  even  now  I  fail  to  fathom;  but  I  fear  I  may  have  been 
deceived,  and  especially  so  fear  since  knowing  that  Satan  has 
led  his  mind  astray. 

(1)  When  the  Church  of  Christ  was  set  up  by  revelation, 
he  was  called  to  be  First  Elder,  and  I  was  called  to  be  Second 
Elder,  and  whatever  he  had  of  Priesthood  (about  which  I  am 
beginning  to  doubt)  also  had  I. 

(2)  But   I  certainly  followed  him  too   far  when  accepting 
and  reiterating,  that  none  had  authority  from  God  to  administer 
the  ordinances  of  the  gospel,  as  I  had  then  forgotten  that  John, 
the  beloved  disciple,  was  tarrying  on  earth  and  exempt  from 
death. 

1  Cowdery'i  "Defense"  may  be  obtained  of  R.  B.  Neal,  Grayson,  Ky., 
for  ten  cents  per  copy. 


DEFENCE 

IN  A 

Rehearsal  cf  My 

FOR 

Separating  Myself 

FROM    THE 

LATTER  DAY  SAINTS 

BY  OLIVER  COWDERY 

Second  Elder  o*  The  Church  of  Christ. 


This  Defence  is  not  protected  by  a  copyright,  as 
1  wisn  no  man,  to  be  confined  alone  to  my  permis- 
sion/in  printing  what  is  meant  for  the  eyes  and 
knowledge  of  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

"God  doth  not  walk  in  crooked  paths; 
Neither  doth  he  turn  to  the  right  hand. 
Nor  the  the  left    neither  doth  he  vary 
From  that  which  he  hath  said." 


Pressley's  Job  Office, 

Norton,  Ohio, 

1839. 


FACSIMILE  OF  THE   TITLE-PAGE   OF   COWDERY'S   TRACT 


THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON  61 

I  am  well  aware  that  a  rehearsal  of  these  things  at  this  day 
will  be  unpleasant  reading  to  the  First  Elder;  yet  so  it  is,  and  it 
is  wisdom  that  it  should  be  so.  Without  rehearsing  too  many 
things  that  have  caused  me  to  lose  my  faith  in  Bro.  Joseph's 
seership,  I  regard  his  frequent  prediction  that  he  himself  shall 
tarry  on  the  earth  till  Christ  shall  come  in  glory,  and  that  neither 
the  rage  of  devils  nor  the  malice  of  men  shall  ever  cause  him 
to  fall  by  the  hand  of  his  enemies  until  he  has  seen  Christ  in 
the  flesh  at  his  final  coming,  as  little  short  of  a  piece  of  blas- 
phemy; and  it  may  be  classed  with  that  revelation  that  some 
among  you  will  remember  which  sent  Bro.  Page  and  me  so  un- 
wisely to  (3)  Toronto  with  a  prediction  from  the  Lord  by  Urim 
and  Thummim  that  we  would  there  find  a  man  anxious  to  buy 
the  First  Elder's  copyright.  I  well  remember  we  did  not  find 
him,  and  had  to  return  surprised  and  disappointed.  But  so 
great  was  my  faith,  that,  in  going  to  Toronto,  nothing  but  calm- 
ness pervaded  my  soul,  every  doubt  was  banished,  and  I  as 
much  expected  that  Bro.  Page  and  I  would  fulfill  the  revelation 
as  that  we  should  live.  And  you  may  believe  without  asking  me 
to  relate  the  particulars,  that  it  would  be  no  easy  task  to  describe 
our  desolation  and  grief. 

Bro.  Page  and  I  did  not  think  that  God  would  have  deceived 
us  through  "Urim  and  Thummim,"  exactly  as  came  the  Book 
of  Mormon;  and  I  well  remember  how  hard  I  strove  to  drive 
away  the  foreboding  which  seized  me,  that  the  First  Elder  had 
made  tools  of  us,  where  we  thought,  in  the  simplicity  of  our 
hearts,  that  we  were  divinely  commanded. 

And  what  served  to  render  the  reflection  past  expression 
in  its  bitterness  to  me,  was,  that  from  his  hand  I  received  bap- 
tism, by  the  direction  of  the  Angel  of  God,  whose  voice,  as  it 
has  since  struck  me,  did  most  mysteriously  resemble  the  voice  of 
Elder  Sidney  Rigdon,1  who,  I  am  sure,  had  no  part  in  the  trans- 
actions of  that  day,  as  the  Angel  was  John  the  Baptist,  which  I 
doubt  not  and  deny  not.  When  I  afterward  first  heard  Elder 
Rigdon,  whose  voice  is  so  strikingly  similar,  I  felt  that  this 
"dear"  brother  was  to  be  in  some  sense,  to  me  unknown,  the 
herald  of  this  church  as  the  Great  Baptist  was  of  Christ. 

(4)  I  never  dreamed,  however,  that  he  would  influence  the 

1  This  is  a  mild  way  of  letting  the  cat  out  of  the  bag.  I  am  strongly 
of  the  opinion  that  Rigdon  was  the  "angel"  of  Mormonism. 


52  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

Prophet,  Seer  and  Revelator  to  the  Church  of  Latter  Day  Saints, 
into  the  formation  of  a  secret  band  at  Far  West,  committed  to 
depredations  upon  Gentiles  and  the  actual  assassination  of  apos- 
tates from  the  church,  which  was  done  in  June  last  and  was 
only  one  of  many  wrong  steps. 

These  are  facts  which  I  am  rehearsing,  and  if  they  shall  be 
called  in  question,  I  am  able  to  establish  them  by  evidence  which 
I  can  bring  forward  in  abundance. 

Still,  although  favored  of  God  as  a  chosen  witness  to  bear 
testimony  to  the  divine  authority  of  the  Book  of  Mormon,  and 
honored  of  the  Lord  in  being  permitted,  without  money  and 
without  price,  to  serve  as  scribe  during  the  translation  of  the 
Book  of  Mormon,  I  have  sometimes  had  seasons  of  skepticism, 
in  which  I  did  seriously  wonder  whether  the  prophet  and  I  were 
men  in  our  sober  senses  when  we  would  be  translating  from 
plates  through  "the  U'im  and  Thummim"  and  the  plates  not  be 
in  sight  at  all. 

But  I  believed  both  in  the  Seer  and  in  the  "Seer  Stone,"  and 
what  the  First  Elder  announced  as  revelation  from  God,  I 
accepted  as  such,  and  committed  to  paper  with  a  glad  mind  and 
happy  heart  and  swift  pen ;  for  I  believed  him  to  be  the  soul 
of  honor  and  truth,  a  young  man  who  would  die  before  he 
would  lie. 

Man  may  deceive  his  fellow  man,  deception  may  follow  de- 
ception, and  the  children  of  the  wicked  one  may  seduce  the 
unstable,  untaught  in  the  ways  of  righteousness  and  peace,  for 
I  felt  a  solemn  awe  about  me,  being  deep  in  the  faith,  that  the 
First  Elder  was  a  Seer  and  Prophet  of  God,  giving  the  truth 
unsullied  through  "Urim  and  Thummim,"  dictated  by  the  will 
of  the  Lord,  and  that  he  was  persecuted  for  the  sake  of  the 
truth  which  he  loved.  Could  I  have  been  deceived  in  him? 

I  could  rehearse  a  number  of  things  to  show  either  that  I 
was  then  deceived,  or  that  he  has  since  fallen  from  the  lofty 
place  in  which  fond  affection  had  deemed  him  secure. 

I  remember  his  experience  as  he  had  related  it  to  me,  and 
lacking  wisdom,  I  went  to  God  in  prayer.  I  said :  "O  Lord,  how 
dark  everything  is !  Let  thy  glory  lighten  it,  and  make  bright  the 
path  for  me.  Show  me  my  duty.  Let  me  be  led  of  thy  Spirit." 

Shall  I  relate  what  transpired?  I  had  a  message  from  the 
Most  High,  as  from  the  midst  of  eternity;  for  the  vail  was 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  63 

parted  and  the  Redeemer  Himself,  clothed  in  glory,  stood  before 
me.  And  He  said: 

"After  reproving  the  Latter  Day  Saints  for  their  corruption 
and  blindness  in  permitting  their  President,  Joseph  Smith,  Jr., 
to  lead  them  forth  into  errors,  where  I  led  him  not,  nor  com- 
manded him,  and  saying  unto  them,  'Thus  saith  the  Lord,'  when 
I  said  it  not  unto  him,  thou  shalt  withdraw  thyself  from  among 
them." 

And  I  testify  that  Jesus,  whose  words  I  have  been  rehearsing, 
hath  even  so  commanded  me  in  an  open  vision. 

The  Lord  revealed  to  me  that  the  First  Elder  is  leading  the 
Saints  astray,  and  ordered  me  to  quit  them  after  delivering  the 
message  which  this  "Defense"  delivers.  I  shall  ever  remember 
this  expression  of  the  Saviour's  grace  with  thanksgiving,  and 
look  upon  his  amazing  goodness  to  me  with  wonder. 

When  I  had  sufficiently  recovered  my  self-possession  to  ask 
in  regard  to  the  errors  into  which  Joseph  Smith,  Jr.,  was  taking 
the  Saints,  the  Redeemer  instructed  me  plainly:  "He  hath  given 
revelations  from  his  own  heart  and  from  a  defiled  conscience  as 
coming  from  my  mouth  and  hath  corrupted  the  covenant  and 
altered  words  which  I  had  spoken.  He  bith  brought  in  high 
priests,  apostles  and  other  officers,  which  in  these  days,  when 
the  written  word  sufficeth,  are  not  in  my  church,  and  some  of 
his  deeds  have  brought  shame  to  my  heritage  by  the  shedding  of 
blood.  He  walketh  in  the  vain  imaginations  of  his  heart,  and  my 
Spirit  is  holy  and  does  not  dwell  in  an  unholy  temple,  nor  are 
angels  sent  to  reveal  the  great  work  of  God  to  hypocrites." 

I  bowed  my  face  in  shame  and  said :  "Lord !  I  entreat  thee, 
give  me  grace  to  bear  thy  message  in  print  where  I  fear  to  take 
it  by  word  of  mouth." 

And  he  said,  "The  grace  is  given  thee,"  and  he  vanished  out 
of  my  sight. 

Prepare  your  hearts,  O  ye  saints  of  the  Most  High,  and  come 
to  understanding.  The  prophet  hath  erred  and  the  people  are 
gone  astray  through  his  error.  God's  word  is  open.  We  may 
read  it.  There  is  no  "First  Presidency"  there,  no  "High  Priest- 
hood" save  that  of  Christ  himself,  no  Patriarch  to  the  Church, 
and  wonderful  to  tell,  the  "First  Elder"  hath  departed  from  God 
in  giving  us  these  things,  and  in  changing  the  name  of  the  church. 

Oh,  the  misery,  distress  and  evil  attendant  upon  giving  heed 


54  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

unto  the  "doctrines  of  men"!  The  gospel  has  been  perverted 
and  the  Saints  are  wandering  in  darkness,  while  a  full  cup  of 
suffering  is  poured  upon  them.  A  society  has  been  organized 
among  them  to  inflict  death  upon  those  who  are  deemed  apos- 
tates, with  the  knowledge  and  sanction  of  the  First  Elder. 

This,  I  confess,  is  a  dark  picture  to  spread  before  those 
whom  I  am  to  warn,  but  they  will  pardon  my  plainness  when  I. 
assure  them  of  the  truth  of  what  I  have  written. 

Bearing  this  message  to  them  is  the  hardest  work  of  my 
life,  although  many  have  been  the  privations  and  fatigues  which 
have  fallen  to  my  lot  to  endure  for  the  Gospel's  sake  since 
April  sth,  1829. 

It  is  disgraceful  to  be  led  by  a  man  who  does  not  scruple  to 
follow  his  own  vain  imagination,  announcing  his  own  schemes  as 
revelations  from  the  Lord. 

And  I  fear  he  is  led  by  a  groundless  hope,  no  better  than 
the  idle  wind  or  the  spider's  web.  Having  cleared  my  soul  by 
delivering  the  message,  I  do  not  deem  it  necessary  to  write 
further  on  the  subject  now. 

Jesus  has  saved  men  in  all  ages  and  saves  them  now,  and 
not  by  our  Priesthood  either.  The  "First  Elder"  errs  as  to  that 
The  Lord  has  said,  long  since,  and  his  word  remains  steadfast 
as  the  eternal  hills,  that  to  him  who  knocks  it  shall  be  opened, 
and  whosoever  will,  may  come  and  partake  of  the  waters  of  life 
freely;  but  a  curse  will  surely  fall  upon  those  who  draw  near  to 
God  with  their  mouths,  and  honor  him  with  their  lips,  while 
their  hearts  are  far  from  him. 

I  no  longer  believe  that  all  the  other  churches  are  wrong. 

Get  right,  O  ye  people,  get  right  with  God,  and  may  the  Lord 
remove  his  judgments  from  you,  preserve  you  in  his  kingdom 
from  all  evil,  and  crown  you  in  Christ.  Amen. 

MARCH  3,  1839.  O.  COWDERY. 

After  Cowdery  had  apostatized,  his  life,  with  that 
of  Whitmer  and  others,  was  threatened  by  his  former 
brethren  and  he  was  forced  to  flee  from  Missouri  to 
Ohio.  At  this  time,  it  was  freely  admitted  by  the  Mor- 
mons that  he  had  denied  his  testimony  to  the  Book  of 
Mormon,  and  the  following  poem  was  composed  in  ref- 
erence to  his  renunciation : 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  65 

"Amazed  with  wonder!     I  look  round 

To  see  most  people  of  our  day 
Reject  the  glorious  gospel  sound 
Because  the  simple  turn  away: 
But  does  it  prove  there  is  no  time, 
Because  some  watches  will  not  go? 

"Or  prove  that  Christ  was  not  the  Lord 
Because  that  Peter  cursed  and  swore, 
Or  Book  of  Mormon  not  his  word 

Because  denied  by  Oliver? 
Or  prove  that  Joseph  Smith  is  false 
Because  apostates  say  'tis  so?" 

After  severing  his  connection  with  the  church,  and 
his  return  to  the  state  of  Ohio,  Cowdery  settled  at 
Tiffin,  where  he  practiced  law,  and  in  1840  or  1841 
became  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church. 
During  the  time  that  he  practiced  law  in  Tiffin,  Cow- 
dery's  partner  was  Judge  W.  Lang.  In  the  following 
letter,  addressed  to  Thomas  Gregg,  of  Hamilton,  Illinois, 
author  of  "The  Prophet  of  Palmyra,"  this  gentleman  says 
respecting  the  history  of  Cowdery  at  Tiffin : 

TIFFIN,  O.,  Nov.  5,  1881. 

DEAR  SIR: — Your  note  of  the  1st  inst.  I  found  upon  my  desk 
when  I  returned  home  this  evening  and  I  hasten  to  answer. 
Once  for  all  I  desire  to  be  strictly  understood  when  I  say  to 
you  that  I  cannot  violate  any  confidence  of  a  friend  though  he 
be  dead.  This  I  will  say  that  Mr.  Cowdery  never  spoke  of 
his  connection  with  the  Mormons  to  anybody  except  to  me.  We 
were  intimate  friends.  The  plates  were  never  translated  and 
could  not  be,  were  never  intended  to  be.  What  is  claimed  to 
be  a  translation  is  the  "Manuscript  Found"  worked  over  by  C. 
He  was  the  best  scholar  amongst  them.  Rigdon  got  the  original 
at  the  job  printing  office  in  Pittsburgh  as  I  have  stated.  I  often 
expressed  my  objection  to  the  frequent  repetition  of  "And  it 
came  to  pass"  to  Mr.  Cowdery  and  said  that  a  true  scholar 
ought  to  have  avoided  that,  which  only  provoked  a  gentle  smile 
from  C.  Without  going  into  detail  or  disclosing  a  confided 
(5) 


66  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

word,  I  say  to  you  that  I  do  know,  as  well  as  can  now  be  known, 
that  C.  revised  the  "Manuscript"  and  Smith  and  Rigdon  approved 
of  it  before  it  became  the  "Book  of  Mormon."  I  have  no 
knowledge  of  what  became  of  the  original.  Never  heard  C.  say 
as  to  that.  Smith  was  killed  while  C.  lived  here.  I  well  remem- 
ber the  effect  upon  his  countenance  when  he  read  the  news  in 
my  presence.  He  immediately  took  the  paper  over  to  his  house 
to  read  to  his  wife.  On  his  return  to  the  office  we  had  a  long 
conversation  on  the  subject,  and  I  was  surprised  to  hear  him 
speak  with  so  much  kindness  of  a  man  that  had  so  wronged 
him  as  Smith  had.  It  elevated  him  greatly  in  my  already  high 
esteem,  and  proved  to  me  more  than  ever  the  nobility  of  his 
nature.  C.  never  gave  me  a  full  history  of  the  troubles  of  the 
Mormons  in  Mo.  and  111.,  but  I  am  sure  that  the  doctrine  of 
polygamy  was  advocated  by  Smith  and  opposed  by  Cowdery. 
Then  when  they  became  rivals  for  the  leadership,  Smith  made 
use  of  this  opposition  by  Cowdery  to  destroy  his  popularity  and 
influence,  and  which  finally  culminated  in  the  mob  that  demol- 
ished Cowdery's  house  the  night  when  he  fled.  This  Whitmer 
you  speak  of  must  be  the  brother-in-law  of  Cowdery  whose 
wife  was  a  Whitmer.  It  may  be  true  that  he  has  the  original 
MS.  Now  as  to  whether  C.  ever  openly  denounced  Mormonism 
let  me  say  this  to  you:  no  man  ever  knew  better  than  he  how 
to  keep  one's  own  counsel.  He  would  never  allow  any  man  to 
drag  him  into  a  conversation  on  the  subject.  Cowdery  was  a 
Democrat  and  a  most  powerful  advocate  of  the  principles  of  the 
party  on  the  stump.  For  this  he  became  the  target  of  the 
Whig  stumpers  arid  press,  who  denounced  him  as  a  Mormon 
and  made  free  use  of  C.'s  certificate  at  the  end  of  the  Mormon 
Bible  to  crush  his  influence.  He  suffered  great  abuse  for  this 
while  he  lived  here  on  that  account.  In  the  second  year  of  his 
residence  here  he  and  his  family  attached  themselves  to  the 
Methodist  Protestant  Church,  where  they  held  fellowship  to  the 
time  they  left  for  Elkhorn.  I  have  now  said  about  all  that  I  feel 
at  liberty  to  say  on  these  points  and  hope  it  may  aid  you  some  in 
your  researches.  If  Mrs.  Cowdery  is  still  living,  I  would  be 
glad  to  learn  her  post  office  address  so  as  to  enable  me  to  write 
to  her.  You  have  now  the  substance  of  all  I  remember  on  the 
subject  and  if  it  proves  of  any  benefit  to  your  enterprise  (in 
which  I  wish  you  success),  you  are  certainly  welcome.  I  could 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  5? 

only  answer  your  questions  in  the  manner  I  did  because  some  of 
them  were  not  susceptible  of  a  direct  answer  by  me. 

Resp.  Yours,  W.  LANG. 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Gregg,  dated  at  Tiffin,  Ohio,  August 
3,  1882,  Judge  W.  H.  Gibson,  an  old  acquaintance  and 
friend  of  Cowdery,  says: 

Referring,  now,  to  yours  of  the  I3th  February,  making  in- 
quiries as  to  Oliver  Cowdery,  I  beg  to  reply,  though  perhaps 
too  late  for  your  purpose.  I  think  that  it  is  absolutely  certain 
that  Mr.  C,  after  his  separation  from  the  Mormons,  never  con- 
versed on  the  subject  with  his  most  intimate  friends,  and  never 
by  word  or  act,  disclosed  anything  relating  to  the  conception, 
development  or  progress  of  the  "Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of 
Latter-day  Saints."  He  was  an  able  lawyer,  a  fine  orator,  a 
ready  debater  and  led  a  blameless  life,  while  residing  in  this 
city.  He  united  with  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church,  and  was 
a  consistent,  active  member. 

Mrs.  Adeline  M.  Bernard,  adopted  daughter  of  Oliver 
Cowdery,  wrote  as  follows  of  Cowdery 's  connection  with 
the  Methodist  Protestant  Church : 

JACKSON,  Oct.  3,  1881. 
MR.  GREGG, 

Sir: — Your  letter  of  August  18  was  received  in  due  time,  and 
the  reason  that  I  did  not  answer  it  sooner  was  on  account  of 
sickness.  In  the  first  place,  you  say  that  Whitmer  states  that 
Mr.  Cowdery  held  the  original  Manuscripts  of  the  Book  of  Mor- 
mon and  when  he  came  to  die  placed  them  in  the  hands  of  Mr. 
Whitmer.  All  he,  O.  C,  had  was  the  B.  of  M.  and  the  M. 
hymn  book.  Joe  Smith  said  that  as  fast  as  he  translated  from 
the  golden  plates  the  B.  of  M.,  the  angel  took  them  from  them 
and  nothing  was  left  him  but  the  B.  of  M.  Second,  I  know 
that  Mr.  Cowdery  joined  the  Protestant  Methodist  Church  in 
1841  and  you  can  write  to  W.  M.  Lang,  of  Tiffin,  Ohio,  and  he 
will  search  the  Ch.  records  and  send  you  a  transcript  of  his. 
O.  C.'s  membership.  I  suppose  that  Maria  Cowdery,  or  Mrs. 
Johnson  as  she  is  now,  feels  a  delicacy  in  saying  anything  about 
her  father's  belief  in  M.  I  don't  think  that  any  of  the  family 
connection  belong  to  the  M.  C.  except  David  Whitmer,  and  he 


58  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

was  always  a  very  visionary  man,  but  he  renounced  M.  when 
O.  C.  did.  I  do  not  know  of  anything  more  you  want  to  know, 
but  if  there  is  tell  me  and  I  will  try  and  inform  you  the  best  I 
can.  ADELINE  M.  BERNARD/ 

I  now  introduce  the  affidavit  of  G.  J.  Keen,  a  highly 
respected  citizen  of  Tiffin,  as  proof  that  Cowdery  re- 
nounced Mormonism  and  united  with  the  Methodist 
Protestant  Church: 

STATE  OF  OHIO, 
County  of  Seneca. 

Personally  appeared  before  me,  the  undersigned,  a  Notary 
Public  within  and  for  said  county,  G.  J.  Keen,  a  resident  of  said 
county,  to  me  well  known,  and  being  sworn  according  to  law 
makes  oath  and  says: 

I  was  well  acquainted  with  Oliver  Cowdery  who  formerly 
resided  in  this  city,  that  sometime  in  the  year  1840  Henry 
Cronise,  Samuel  Waggoner  and  myself,  with  other  Democrats 
of  this  county,  determined  to  establish  a  Democratic  newspaper 
in  this  city  to  aid  in  the  election  of  Martin  Van  Buren  to  the 
Presidency,  and  we  authorized  Henry  Cronise,  Esq.,  to  go  East 
and  purchase  a  suitable  press  for  that  purpose.  Mr.  Cronise 
went  East,  purchased  a  press  and  engaged  Oliver  Cowdery  to 
edit  the  paper.  Mr.  Cowdery  arrived  in  Tiffin  (O.)  some  time 
before  the  press  arrived.  Some  time  after  Mr.  Cowdery's  ar- 
rival in  Tiffin,  we  became  acquainted  with  his  (Cowdery's)  con- 
nection with  Mormonism. 

We  immediately  called  a  meeting  of  our  Democratic  friends, 
and  having  the  Book  of  Mormon  with  us,  it  was  unanimously 
agreed  that  Mr.  Cowdery  could  not  be  permitted  to  edit  said 
paper. 

Mr.  Cowdery  opened  a  law  office  in  Tiffin,  and  soon  effected 
a  partnership  with  Joel  W.  Wilson. 

In  a  few  years  Mr.  Cowdery  expressed  a  desire  to  associate 
himself  with  a  Methodist  Protestant  church  of  this  city. 

Rev.  John  Souder  and  myself  were  appointed  a  committee 


1  The  letters  of  Lang,  Gibson  and  Mrs.  Bernard  have  been  turned  over 
to  the  American  Anti-Mormon  Association  by  the  family  of  Th.  Gregg,  to 
whom  they  are  addressed.  I  have  made  these  copies  directly  from  the 
originals. 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  69 

to  wait  on   Mr.   Cowdery  and  confer  with  him   respecting  his 
connection  with  Mormonism  and  the  Book  of  Mormon. 

We  accordingly  waited  on  Mr.  Cowdery  at  his  residence  in 
Tiffin,  and  there  learned  his  connection,  from  him,  with  that 
order,  and  his  full  and  final  renunciation  thereof. 

We  then  inquired  of  him  if  he  had  any  objection  to  making 
a  public  recantation. 

He  replied  that  he  had  objections;  that,  in  the  first  place, 
it  could  do  no  good ;  that  he  had  known  several  to  do  so  and 
they  always  regretted  it.  And,  in  the  second  place,  it  would 
have  a  tendency  to  draw  public  attention,  invite  criticism,  and 
bring  him  into  contempt. 

"But,"  said  he,  "nevertheless,  if  the  church  require  it,  I  will 
submit  to  it,  but  I  authorize  and  desire  you  and  the  church  to 
publish  and  make  known  my  recantation." 

We  did  not  demand  it,  but  submitted  his  name  to  the  church, 
and  he  was  unanimously  admitted  a  member  thereof. 

At  that  time  he  arose  and  addressed  the  audience  present, 
admitted  his  error  and  implored  forgiveness,  and  said  he  was 
sorry  and  ashamed  of  his  connection  with  Mormonism. 

He  continued  his  membership  while  he  resided  in  Tiffin,  and 
became  superintendent  of  the  Sabbath-school,  and  led  an  ex- 
emplary life  while  he  resided  with  us. 

I  have  lived  in  this  city  upwards  of  fifty-three  years,  was 
auditor  of  this  county,  was  elected  to  that  office  in  1840. 

I  am  now  in  my  eighty-third  year,  and  well  remember  the 
facts  above  related.  (Signed)  G.  J.  KEEN. 

Sworn  to  before  me  and  subscribed  in  my  presence,  this 
I4th  day  of  April,  A.  D  1885.  FRANK  L.  EMICH, 

Notary  Public  in  Seneca,  O. 

Another  very  interesting  proof  of  Cowdery 's  con- 
nection with  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church  at  Tiffin 
is  to  be  found  in  the  records  of  the  business  meetings  of 
the  male  members  of  that  church.  The  minutes  of  such 
a  meeting,  held  January  18,  1844,  are  as  follows : 

Minutes  of  a  meeting  of  the  Male  Members  of  the  Methodist 
Protestant  Church  of  Tiffin,  Seneca  County,  Ohio,  held  pursuant 
to  adjournment. 

The    meeting   came   to    order    by   appointing   Rev.   Thomas 


60  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

Cushman  Chairman,  and  Oliver  Cowdery  Secretary.  On  ascer- 
taining and  it  appearing  that  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  male 
members  of  said  Society  were  present,  it  was  on  motion 

Resolved,  That  we  accept  the  Charter  for  the  legal  organiza- 
tion of  said  Society  passed  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
State  of  Ohio,  January  iQth,  1843,  and  that  we  become  and  now 
are  organized  under  and  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of 
the  same. 

On  motion,  it  was  further  resolved  that  John  Souder,  Joseph 
Walker,  William  Campbell,  John  Shinefelt  and  Benjamin  Nye 
be,  and  they  are  hereby  appointed  and  chosen  Trustees  for  said 
Society  for  and  during  the  term  of  one  year  and  until  their 
successors  are  chosen  and  accept  said  office. 

Resolved,  That  the  annual  meeting  of  the  male  members  of 
this  Society  be  held  at  this  place  one  year  from  this  date  at 
half  past  6  p.  m.  for  the  purpose  of  electing  five  Trustees  for 
said  Society,  unless  previously  called  by  a  vote  of  two-thirds 
of  the  male  members  of  this  Society  to  be  held  at  another 
time. 

Resolved,  That  the  Trustees  appointed  by  this  meeting  be 
authorized  to  call  a  special  meeting  of  this  Society  for  the  pur- 
pose of  adopting  such  By-laws  as  may  be  necessary  for  the  well 
being  of  the  same. 

Resolved,  That  the  first  meeting  of  the  Trustees  of  this 
Society,  elected  by  this  meeting,  be  held  at  the  office  of  O. 
Cowdery  on  Tuesday,  the  23rd  inst,  at  half  past  6  o'clock  p.  m. 

Resolved,  That  the  proceedings  of  this  meeting  be  signed  by 
the  Chairman  and  Secretary. 

On  motion  the  meeting  adjourned  without  delay. 

THOS.  B.  CUSHMAN,  Chairman. 

OLIVER  COWDERY,  Secretary. 

JAN.  18,  1844. 

It  is  not  at  all  likely  that  Oliver  Cowdery  would  have 
been  chosen  secretary  of  "a  meeting  of  the  Male  Mem- 
bers of  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church  of  Tiffin,  Ohio," 
if  he  was  not  a  member  of  that  church;  and  it  is  not  at 
all  likely  that  he  would  have  been  a  member  of  that 
church  if  he  had  not  renounced  Mormonism. 

With  these  facts  before  us,  it  is  sheer  folly  for  Mor- 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  61 

monism  any  longer  to  deny  that  Oliver  Cowdery  did  at 
one  time  in  his  history  renounce  the  faith  and  did  con- 
nect himself  with  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church  of 
Tiffin,  Ohio. 


62  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 


CHAPTER   IV. 

The  Life  of  Solomon  Spaulding — Spaulding's  Roman  Story — The 
Fairchild-Rice-Smith  Correspondence — A  Mormon  Lie  Nailed. 

Solomon  Spaulding  was  born  at  Ash  ford,  Connecti- 
cut, in  1761 ;  graduated  from  Dartmouth  College  in  1785, 
and  completed  his  course  in  theology  in  1787.  After  this 
he  preached  for  a  time,  but  finally  became  an  infidel,1  quit 
preaching  and  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business2  in 
Cherry  Valley,  New  York,  where  he  failed  financially  in 
1807.  I*1  1809,  with  a  business  partner,  Henry  Lake,  he" 
built  a  forge  at  Conneaut,  or  New  Salem,  Ohio,  where  he 
again  failed  in  1812.  The  same  year  he  removed  to 
Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania,  where  he  lived  two  years,  re- 
moving, at  the  expiration  of  this  time,  to  the  town  of 
Amity,  in  the  same  State,  where  he  made  his  home  up  to 
the  time  of  his  death  in  1816. 

SPAULDING'S  ROMAN  STORY. 

It  was  while  living  at  Conneaut  that  Spaulding  be- 
came interested  in  the  aboriginal  works  of  the  country 
and  began  to  write  romances  based  upon  them.  The 
first  of  these,  which  is  variously  known  as  his  "Manu- 
script No.  i,"  "Manuscript  Story — Conneaut  Creek," 
"Honolulu  Manuscript"  and  "Roman  Story,"  he  began 
in  the  year  1809.*  This  manuscript  gives  an  account  of 


1  The  proof  of  this  is  the  fragment  of  a  letter  attached  to  his  "Manu- 
script Story." 

*  Mrs.    Dickenson  eays  that   Spaulding  was  principal   of  an  academy  at 
Cherry  Valley,   New   York.      ("New   Light   on    Mormonism,"    p.    13.)      His 
brother  John   says,   however,  that  he   went  into  the  mercantile  business  in 
that  place  with  his  brother  Josiah. 

*  Some  say  in  the  year  1808. 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  63 

a  party  of  Romans  who,  in  the  time  of  Constantino,  in  a 
voyage  to  Britain,  were  driven  from  their  course  by  con- 
trary winds  and  were  thrown  upon  our  Atlantic  coast. 
Making  their  way  inland,  they  came  in  contact  with  two 
native  tribes,  the  Sciotans  and  Kentucks,  who  are  de- 
scribed as  living,  respectively,  north  and  south  of  the 
Ohio  River.  This  story  is  the  purported  history  of  these 
aboriginal  tribes,  giving  an  account  of  their  customs, 
habits,  manner  of  government  and  wars.  Its  author  was 
a  Roman  by  the  name  of  Fabius,  who  is  represented  as 
writing  it  on  twenty-eight  rolls  of  parchment  in  the  Latin 
language  and  afterward  depositing  it  in  an  artificial  cave 
near  Conneaut,  where  Spaulding  claims  that  he  dis- 
covered it.  It  was  never -finished,  for  it  ends  abruptly. 
Spaulding  gave  as  his  reason  for  throwing  it  aside  that 
he  wished  to  go  further  back  in  his  dates  and  write  in 
the  old  Scriptural  style,  that  his  story  might  appear  more 
ancient — a  wish  that  was  afterwards  accomplished  in  his 
"Manuscript  Found,"  from  which,  it  is  claimed,  the  Book 
of  Mormon  has  been  revamped. 

After  Spaulding's  death,  his  widow  removed  to  the 
home  of  her  brother,  W.  H.  Sabine,  of  Onondaga  Valley, 
New  York.  Among  the  things  that  she  carried  with  her 
was  an  old,/  "hair-covered  trunk"  which  contained  the 
sermons,  essays  and  a  "single  manuscript"  of  her  de- 
ceased husband.  In  1820,  Mrs.  Spaulding  married  a  Mr. 
Davison,  of  Hartwick,  New  York,  and  took  the  trunk  to 
that  place  with  her.  Her  daughter,  Matilda  Spaulding, 
was  married  to  Dr.  A.  McKinstry  in  1828,  and  removed 
to  Monson,  Hampden  County,  Massachusetts,  where  her 
mother  followed  her  soon  afterwards  and  where  she 
spent  the  remainder  of  her  life.  When  Mrs.  Davison  re- 
moved from  Hartwick,  the  trunk  spoken  of  was  left  in 
the  care  of  her  cousin,  Mr.  Jerome  Clark,  of  that  place. 


64  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

Leaving  the  Spauldings  for  the  present,  we  return  to 
Conneaut,  Ohio.  In  1832  or  1833,  a  "woman  preacher" 
came  to  that  place  and  read  copious  extracts  from  the 
Book  of  Mormon  before  a  congregation  composed,  in 
part,  of  Spaulding's  relatives  and  old  acquaintances.  The 
book  was  immediately  recognized  by  Spaulding'  s  brother 
and  others  as  a  plagiarism  of  the  "Manuscript  Found," 
and  considerable  indignation  was  manifested  that  it 
should  have  been  put  to  so  unholy  a  use  as  to  be  trans- 
formed into  a  new  Bible.  The  excitement  was  so  in- 
tense that  a  citizens'  meeting  was  called,  and  Dr.  Philas- 
trus  Hurlburt,  who  had  been  a  Mormon,  but  who  had 
been  cut  off  from  the  church,  Mormons  say,  for  immo- 
rality, was  deputed  to  visit  Mrs.  Davison  and  secure,  if 
possible,  the  "Manuscript  Found,"  that  it  might  be  com- 
pared with  the  Book  of  Mormon  and  the  fraud  be  ex- 
posed. 

Hurlburt  went,  first,  to  Onondaga  Valley,  New  York, 
where  he  secured  the  recommendation  of  Mr.  Sabine, 
Mrs.  Davison's  brother,  and  from  there  to  Monson,  Mas- 
sachusetts, where  he  met  Mrs.  Davison  herself.  At  first 
this  lady  declined  to  give  her  consent  to  let  the  writings 
of  her  former  husband  pass  out  of  her  possession,  but 
upon  receiving  Hurlburt's  solemn  promise  that  the  man- 
uscript he  was  seeking  would  be  returned,  she  reluctantly 
acceded,  and  Hurlburt  went  to  Hartwick  and  obtained 
from  the  old  trunk  in  Mr.  Clark's  possession  the  "single 
manuscript"  which  it  contained,  and  which  at  that  time 
was  supposed  to  be  the  "Manuscript  Found." 

Hurlburt  then  returned  to  Ohio  and  delivered  the 
manuscript,  with  other  matter  which  he  had  collected,  to 
a  Mr.  E.  D.  Howe,  editor  of  the  Painesville  Telegraph, 
who  was  then  engaged  in  writing  his  book,  "Mormonism 
Unveiled."  But,  when  this  gentleman  examined  the 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  65 

manuscript,  he  discovered  that  it  was  not  the  "Manu- 
script Found"  at  all,  but  Spaulding's  first  story,  entitled 
"Manuscript  Story — Conneaut  Creek."  He  also  after- 
wards exhibited  it  to  the  old  acquaintances  of  Spaulding, 
who  immediately  recognized  it  as  his  work,  but  who  de- 
clared that  it  was  not  the  "Manuscript  Found,"  but  an- 
other manuscript  written  earlier. 

This  romance  was  not  returned  to  Mrs.  Davison,  as 
had  been  agreed  upon,  and  was  soon  lost  track  of.  Howe 
declared  that  it  had  been  destroyed  by  fire,  while  the 
Spauldings  accused  Hurlburt  of  having  sold  it  to  the 
Mormons.  But  neither  of  these  explanations  of  its  dis- 
appearance proved  true.  In  1839-40,  Howe  sold  his  print- 
ing establishment  to  a  Mr.  L.  L.  Rice,  who,  with  a  part- 
ner, began  publishing  an  antislavery  newspaper.  Rice 
subsequently  sold  out  and  removed  to  Honolulu,  Sand- 
wich Islands,  where,  in  1884,  he  accidentally  discovered 
this  manuscript  in  his  possession,  it  having  been  inad- 
vertently transferred  to  him  by  Howe,  among  other 
things,  when  he  bought  out  his  printing  establishment. 

Soon  after  its  discovery,  this  manuscript  was  placed 
in  the  library  of  Oberlin  College,  Ohio,  where  it  still  re- 
mains. Both  of  the  Mormon  Churches  have  made  copies 
of  it,  which  ]they  publish  under  the  erroneous  title,  "Man- 
uscript Found." 

THE   FAIRCHILD-RICE-SMITH    CORRESPONDENCE. 

With  the  finding  of  the  Honolulu  manuscript,  interest 
in  the  question  of  the  origin  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  was 
re-aroused,  and  papers  and  magazines  throughout  the 
country  heralded  the  news  of  the  new  find  and  discussed 
its  probable  bearing  upon  the  traditional  theory,  so  long 
held,  of  the  origin  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  in  the  Spaul- 
ding Romance.  Pres.  J.  H.  Fairchild,  of  Oberlin  College, 


66  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN  OF 

having  been  in  Honolulu  at  the  time  of  the  discovery 
of  this  manuscript,  wrote  a  brief  note  in  regard  to  the 
same  for  the  Bibliotheca  Sacra,  which  was  widely  copied 
by  papers  and  magazines1  throughout  the  country.  This 
note,  with  three  letters  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  L.  L.  Rice, 
the  finder,  appear  in  the  preface  to  the  Josephite  edition 
of  this  manuscript.  The  note  is  as  follows : 

The  theory  of  the  origin  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  in  the 
traditional  manuscript  of  Solomon  Spaulding,  will  probably  have 
to  be  relinquished.  That  manuscript  is  doubtless  now  in  the 
possession  of  Mr.  L.  L.  Rice,  of  Honolulu,  Hawaiian  Islands, 
formerly  an  anti-slavery  editor  in  Ohio,  and  Rr  many  years 
State  Printer  at  Columbus.  During  a  recent  visit  to  Honolulu, 
I  suggested  to  Mr.  Rice  that  he  might  have  valuable  anti-slavery 
documents  in  his  possession,  which  he  would  be  willing  to  con- 
tribute to  the  rich  collection  already  in  the  Oberlin  College 
Library.  In  pursuance  of  this  suggestion,  Mr.  Rice  began  look- 
ing over  his  old  pamphlets  and  papers,  and  at  length  came  upon 
an  old,  worn  and  faded  manuscript  of  about  one  hundred  and 
seventy-five  pages,  small  quarto,  purporting  to  be  a  history  of 
the  migrations  and  conflicts  of  the  ancient  Indian  Tribes,  which 
occupied  the  territory  now  belonging  to  the  States  of  New  York, 
Ohio  and  Kentucky.  On  the  last  page  of  this  manuscript  is  a 
certificate*  and  signature,  giving  the  names  of  several  persons 
known  to  the  signer,  who  have  assured  him  that  to  their  per- 
sonal knowledge  the  manuscript  was  the  writing  of  Solomon 
Spaulding.  Mr.  Rice  has  no  recollection  how  or  when  this 
manuscript  came  into  his  possession.  It  was  enveloped  in  a 
coarse  piece  of  wrapping  paper,  and  endorsed  in  Mr.  Rice's 
hand-writing,  "A  Manuscript  Story." 

There  seems  no  reason  to  doubt  that  this  is  the  long-lost 
story.  Mr.  Rice,  myself  and  others  compared  it  with  the  Book 
of  Mormon;  and  could  detect  no  resemblance  between  the  two, 
in  general  or  in  detail.  There  seems  to  be  no  name  or  incident 


1  Grinnell  (Iowa)  Herald;  Western  Watchman,  Eureka,  California; 
New  York  Observer,  Frank  Leslie's  Sunday  Maqazine,  etc. 

1  "The  Writings  of  Sollomon  Spaulding  Proved  by  Aron  Wright, 
Oliver  Smith,  John  N.  Miller  &  others.  The  testimonies  of  the  above 
gentlemen  are  now  in  my  possession.  (Signed)  D.  P.  HURLBURT." 


THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON  «T 

common  to  the  two.  The  solemn  style  of  the  Book  of  Mormon, 
in  imitation  of  the  English  Scriptures,  does  not  appear  in  the 
manuscript.  The  only  resemblance  is  in  the  fact  that  both 
profess  to  set  forth  the  history  of  lost  tribes.  Some  other  ex- 
planation of  the  origin  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  must  be  found, 
if  any  explanation  is  required. 

(Signed)  JAMES  H.  FAIRCHILD. 

The  three  letters  of  Mr.  Rice  I  now  give,  reserving 
my  comments  on  the  same,  as  I  also  shall  on  the  note  of 
President  Fairchild,  until  their  close: 

HONOLULU,  Sandwich  Islands,  March  28,  1885. 

MR.  JOSEPH  SMITH  :l — The  Spaulding  Manuscript  in  my  pos- 
session came  into  my  hands  in  this  wise.  In  1839-40  my  partner 
and  myself  bought  of  E.  D.  Howe  the  Painesville  Telegraph, 
published  at  Painesville,  Ohio.  The  transfer  of  the  printing  de- 
partment, types,  press,  &c.,  was  accompanied  with  a  large  col- 
lection of  books,  manuscripts,  &.,  this  manuscript  of  Spaulding 
among  the  rest.  So,  you  see,  it  has  been  in  my  possession  over 
forty  years.  But  I  never  examined  it,  or  knew  the  character 
of  it,  until  some  six  or  eight  months  since.  The  wrapper  was 
marked,  "Manuscript  Story — Conneaut  Creek."  The  wonder  is, 
that  in  some  of  my  movements,  I  did  not  destroy  or  burn  it 
with  a  large  amount  of  rubbish  that  had  accumulated  from 
time  to  time. 

It  happened  that  Pres't  Fairchild  was  here  on  a  visit,  at  the 
time  I  discovered  the  contents  of  it,  and  it  was  examined  by 
him  and  others'  with  much  curiosity.  Since  Pres't  Fairchild  pub- 
lished the  fact  of  its  existence  in  my  possession,  I  have  had 
applications  for  it  from  half  a  dozen  sources,  each  applicant 
seeming  to  think  that  he  or  she  was  entitled  to  it.  Mr.  Howe 
says  when  he  was  getting  up  a  book  to  expose  Mormonism  as  a 
fraud  at  an  early  day,  when  the  Mormons  had  their  head» 
quarters  at  Kirtland,  he  obtained  it  from  some  source,  and  it 
was  inadvertently  transferred  with  the  other  effects  of  his 
printing  office.  A.  B.  Deming,  of  Painesville,  who  is  also  get- 
ting up  some  kind  of  a  book  I  believe  on  Mormonism,  wants 
me  to  send  it  to  him.  Mrs.  Dickinson,  of  Boston,  claiming  to 


1  President  of  the   Reorganized  Church. 


68  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

be  a  relative  of  Spaulding,  and  who  is  getting  up  a  book  to  show 
that  he  was  the  real  author  of  the  Book  of  Mormon,  wants  it. 
She  thinks,  at  least,  it  should  be  sent  to  Spaulding's  daughter,  a 
Mrs  Somebody — but  she  does  not  inform  me  where  she  lives. 
Deming  says  that  Howe  borrowed  it  when  he  was  getting  up 
his  book,  and  did  not  return  it,  as  he  should  have  done,  &c. 

This  Manuscript  does  not  purport  to  be  "a  story  of  the 
Indians  formerly  occupying  this  continent;"  but  is  a  history  of 
the  wars  between  the  Indians  of  Ohio  and  Kentucky,  and  their 
progress  in  civilization,  &c.  It  is  certain  that  this  Manuscript 
is  not  the  origin  of  the  Mormon  Bible,  whatever  some  other 
manuscript  may  have  been.  The  only  similarity  between  them, 
is,  in  the  manner  in  which  each  purports  to  have  been  found — 
one  in  a  cave  on  Conneaut  Creek — the  other  in  a  hill  in  Ontario 
County,  New  York.  There  is  no  identity  of  names,  of  persons, 
or  places;  and  there  is  no  similarity  of  style  between  them.  As 
I  told  Mr.  Deming,  I  should  as  soon  think  the  Book  of  Revela- 
tion was  written  by  the  author  of  Don  Quixote,  as  that  the 
writer  of  this  Manuscript  was  the  author  of  the  Book  of  Mor- 
mon. Deming  says  Spaulding  made  three  copies  of  "Manuscript 
Found,"  one  of  which  Sidney  Rigdon  stole  from  a  printing 
office  in  Pittsburg.  You  can  probably  tell  better  than  I  can, 
what  ground  there  is  for  such  an  allegation. 

As  to  this  Manuscript,  I  can  not  see  that  it  can  be  of  any 
use  to  any  body,  except  the  Mormons,  to  show  that  IT  is  not 
the  original  of  the  Mormon  Bible.  But  that  would  not  settle 
the  claim  that  some  other  manuscript  of  Spaulding  was  the 
original  of  it.  I  propose  to  hold  it  in  my  own  hands  for  a  while, 
to  see  if  it  can  not  be  put  to  some  good  use.  Deming  and  Howe 
inform  me  that  its  existence  is  exciting  great  interest  in  that 
region.  I  am  under  a  tacit,  but  not  a  positive  pledge  to  Presi- 
dent Fairchild,  to  deposit  it  eventually  in  the  Library  of  Oberlin 
College.  I  shall  be  free  from  that  pledge,  when  I  see  an  oppor- 
tunity to  put  it  to  a  better  use.  Yours,  &c.,  L.  L.  RICE. 

P.  S. — Upon  reflection,  since  writing  the  foregoing,  I  am  of 
the  opinion  that  no  one  who  reads  this  Manuscript  will  give 
credit  to  the  story  that  Solomon  Spaulding  was  in  any  wise  the 
author  of  the  Book  of  Mormon.  It  is  unlikely  that  any  one  who 
wrote  so  elaborate  a  work  as  the  Mormon  Bible,  would  spend 
his  time  in  getting  up  so  shallow  a  story  as  this,  which  at  best 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  69 

is  but  a  feeble  imitation  of  the  other.  Finally,  I  am  more  than 
half  convinced  that  this  is  his  only  writing  of  the  sort,  and  that 
any  pretense  that  Spaulding  was  in  any  sense  the  author  of  the 
other,  is  a  sheef  fabrication.  It  was  easy  for  any  body  who 
may  have  seen  this,  or  heard  anything  of  its  contents,  to  get  up 
the  story  that  they  were  identical.  L.  L.  R. 

HONOLULU,  Sandwich  Islands,  May  i4th,  1885. 
MR.  JOSEPH  SMITH  : 

Dear  Sir — I  am  greatly  obliged  to  you  for  the  information 
concerning  Mormonism,  in  your  letters  of  April  3Oth  and  May 
2d.  As  I  am  in  no  sense  a  Mormonite,  of  course  it  is  a  matter 
of  curiosity,  mainly,  that  I  am  interested  in  the  history  of  Mor- 
monism. 

Two  things  are  true  concerning  this  manuscript  in  my  pos- 
session:  First,  it  is  a  genuine  writing  of  Solomon  Spaulding; 
and  second,  it  is  not  the  original  of  the  Book  of  Mormon. 

My  opinion  is,  from  all  I  have  seen  and  learned,  that  this 
is  the  only  writing  of  Spaulding,  and  there  is  no  founda- 
tion for  the  statement  of  Deming  and  others,  that  Spaulding 
made  another  story,  more  elaborate,  of  which  several  copies 
were  written,  one  of  which  Rigdon  stole  from  a  printing 
office  in  Pittsburgh,  &c.  Of  course  I  can  not  be  as  certain 
of  this,  as  of  the  other  two  points.  One  theory  is,  that 
Rigdon,  or  some  one  else,  saw  this  manuscript,  or  heard  it 
read,  and  from  the  hints  it  conveyed,  got  up  the  other  and 
more  elaborate  writing  on  which  the  Book  of  Mormon  was 
founded.  Take  that  for  what  it  is  worth.  It  don't  seem  to  me 
very  likely.  , 

You  may  be  at  rest  as  to  my  putting  the  manuscript  into 
the  possession  of  any  one  who  will  mutilate  it,  or  use  it  for  a 
bad  purpose.  I  shall  have  it  deposited  in  the  Library  of  Oberlin 
College,  in  Ohio,  to  be  at  the  disposal  for  reading  of  any  one 
who  may  wish  to  peruse  it;  but  not  to  be  removed  from  that 
depository.  My  friend,  President  Fairchild,  may  be  relied  on  as 
security  for  the  safe  keeping  of  it.  It  will  be  sent  there  in 
July,  by  a  friend  who  is  going  there  to  "take  to  himself  a 
wife."  Meantime,  I  have  made  a  literal  copy  of  the  entire 
document — errors  of  orthography,  grammar,  erasures,  and  all — 
which  I  shall  keep  in  my  possession,  so  that  any  attempt  to 
mutilate  it  will  be  of  easy  detection  and  exposure.  Oberlin  is 


70  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

a  central  place,  in  the  vicinity  of  Conneaut,  where  the  manu- 
script was  written. 

I  have  had  an  idea,  sometimes,  that  it  is  due  to  the  Mor- 
mons to  have  a  copy  of  it,  if  they  took  interest  in  it  enough 
to  publish  it.  As  it  is  only  of  interest  as  showing  that  it  is 
not  the  original  of  the  Book  of  Mormon,  no  one  else  is  likely 
to  wish  it  for  publication. 

Miss  Dickinson,  whom  you  call  a  granddaughter  of  Solomon 
Spaulding,  represents  herself  to  me  as  his  grandniece:  "My 
great  uncle,  Rev.  Solomon  Spaulding,"  she  writes. 

Rev.  Dr.  Hyde,  President  of  the  Institution,  in  this  place, 
for  training  Native  Missionaries  for  Micranesia,  (a  very  promi- 
nent and  successful  institution,)  has  written  an  elaborate  account 
of  this  manuscript,  and  of  Mormonism,  and  sent  it  for  publica- 
tion in  the  Congregationalist,  of  Boston.  I  presume  it  will  be 
published,  and  you  will  be  interested  in  reading  it. 

Very  respectfully  yours,  L.  L.  RICE. 

HONOLULU,  H.  I.,  June  12,  1885. 

PRESIDENT  J.  H.  FAIRCHILD: — Herewith  I  send  to  you  the 
Solomon  Spalding  Manuscript,  to  be  deposited  in  the  Library  of 
Oberlin  College,  for  reference  by  any  one  who  may  be  desirous 
of  seeing  or  examining  it.  As  a  great  deal  of  inquiry  has  been 
made  about  it  since  it  became  known  that  it  was  in  my  posses- 
sion, I  deem  it  proper  that  it  be  deposited  for  safe  keeping, 
where  any  one  interested  it  it,  whether  Mormon  or  Anti-Mor- 
mon, may  examine  it.  It  has  been  in  my  possession  forty-six 
years — from  1839  to  1885 — and  for  forty-four  years  of  that  time 
no  one  examined  it,  and  I  was  not  aware  of  the  character  of 
its  contents.  I  send  it  to  you  enclosed  in  the  same  paper 
wrapper,  and  tied  with  the  same  string  that  must  have  enclosed 
it  for  near  half  a  century — certainly  during  the  forty-six  years 
since  it  came  into  my  possession.  I  have  made  and  retain  in 
my  possession  a  correct  literal  copy  of  it,  errors  of  orthography, 
of  grammar,  erasures  and  all.  I  may  allow  the  Mormons  of 
Utah  to  print  it  from  this  copy,  which  they  are  anxious  to  do; 
and  a  delegation  is  now  in  the  Islands,  awaiting  my  decision  on 
this  point.  They  claim  that  they  are  entitled  to  whatever  benefit 
they  may  derive  from  its  publication ;  and  it  seems  to  me  there 
is  some  justice  in  that  claim.  Whether  it  will  relieve  them  in 
any  measure,  from  the  imputation  that  Solomon  Spalding  was 


THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON  71 

the  author  of  the  Book  of  Mormon,  I  do  not  attempt  to  decide. 
It  devolves  upon  their  opponents  to  show  that  there  are  or  were 
other  writings  of  Spalding — since  it  is  evident  that  this  writing 
is  not  the  original  of  the  Mormon  Bible. 

Truly  yours,  &c.,  L.  L.  RICE. 

P.  S.— The  words  "Solomon  Spaulding's  Writings"  in  ink  on 

the  wrapper  were  written  by  me,  after  1  became  aware  of  the 

contents.     The  words  "Manuscript  Story— Conneaut  Creek,"  in 

faint  penciling,  were  as  now  when  it  came  into  my  possession. 

Having  put  before  the  reader  the  foregoing  corre- 
spondence, I  now  invite  his  attention  to  a  brief,  critical 
examination  of  the  same. 

First,  the  manuscript  described  is  not  the  "Manu- 
script Found,"  from  which  it  is  claimed  the  Book  of 
Mormon  was  revamped,  but  an  entirely  different  ro- 
mance, entitled  on  the  wrapper,  "Manuscript  Story — Con- 
neaut Creek."  Professor  Fairchild  says  that  this  title 
appeared  on  the  wrapper  in  Mr.  Rice's  handwriting,  but 
Rice,  himself,  declares  that  it  was  there,  "in  faint  pencil- 
ing," when  it  first  came  into  his  possession.  For  a  reason 
that  will  appear  in  the  next  chapter,  I  believe  that  it  was 
on  the  wrapper  long  before  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  Dr. 
Hurlburt. 

Secondly,  Professor  Fairchild  seems  not  to  have  fully 
understood,  at  this  time,  the  Spaulding-manuscript  the- 
ory. He  speaks  of  this  manuscript  as  "the  long-lost 
story,"  wholly  unmindful  of  the  fact  that,  fifty  years  be- 
fore, Howe,  in  his  "Mormonism  Unveiled,"  had  given  a 
paragraph  outline  of  it  and  had  declared  that  he  had  sub- 
mitted it  to  the  acquaintances  of  Spaulding,  who  had  ad- 
mitted that  the  latter  was  its  author,  but  who  had  ex- 
pressly denied  that  it  was  the  "Manuscript  Found."  It 
is,  therefore,  not  "the  long-lost  story"  at  all,  but  a 
totally  different  story,  written  earlier  and  bearing  no 
more  relation  to  the  "Manuscript  Found"  than  Long- 

(6) 


72  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

fellow's  "Evangeline"  bears  to  his  "Hiawatha."  The 
difference  in  style  between  this  manuscript  and  the  Book 
of  Mormon  is  explained  by  the  statement  of  Spaulding, 
when  he  threw  it  aside,  that  he  intended  to  change  the 
style  and  go  further  back  in  his  dates  that  his  story 
might  appear  more  ancient. 

Thirdly,  Mr.  Rice,  in  denying  that  the  "Manuscript 
Story"  was  in  any  sense  the  basis  of  the  Book  of  Mor- 
mon, admits  the  contention  of  nearly  all  learned  anti- 
Mormon  polemics,  both  before  and  since  his  time,  that 
another  manuscript  of  Spaulding's  might  have  formed 
such  a  basis.  He  says: 

It  is  certain  that  this  Manuscript  is  not  the  origin  of  the 
Mormon  Bible,  whatever  some  other  manuscript  may  have  been. 

And: 

But  that  would  not  settle  the  claim  that  some  other  manu- 
script of  Spaulding  was  the  original  of  it. 

Fourthly,  Professor  Fairchild,  in  October,  1900,  so 
far  changed  his  sentiments  expressed  sixteen  years  be- 
fore, that  he  admitted  the  same  contention.  In  the  month 
mentioned,  and  shortly  before  his  death,  he  signed  the 
following  statement  in  the  presence  of  Rev.  J.  D.  Nut- 
ting: 

FAIRCHILD'S  LAST  STATEMENT. 

With  regard  to  the  manuscript  of  Mr.  Spaulding  now  in  the 
Library  of  Oberlin  College,  I  have  never  stated,  and  know  of 
no  one  who  can  state,  that  it  is  the  only  manuscript  which 
Spaulding  wrote,  or  that  it  is  certainly  the  one  which  has  been 
supposed  to  be  the  original  of  the  Book  of  Mormon.  The  dis- 
covery of  this  Ms.  does  not  prove  that  there  may  not  have  been 
another,  which  became  the  basis  of  the  Book  of  Mormon.  The 
use  which  has  been  made  of  statements  emanating  from  me  a5 
implying  the  contrary  of  the  above  is  entirely  unwarranted. 

JAMES  H.  FAIRCHILD. 


THE  BOOK   OF   MORMON  73 

With  this  last  statement,  Professor  Fairchild  nullifies 
the  wrong  inferences  which  have  been  drawn  from  his 
first  declaration,  and  swings  into  line  with  the  position 
generally  assumed  by  intelligent  anti-Mormon  polemics, 
that  there  was  another  manuscript,  different  from  the  one 
found  in  Honolulu,  which  became  the  basis  of  the  Book 
of  Mormon. 

A    MORMON    LIE    NAILED. 

In  the  preface  to  the  copy  of  the  Honolulu  manu- 
script, as  published  by  the  Reorganized  Mormon  Church, 
I  find  the  following  false  and  misleading  statement: 

Herewith  we  present  to  the  reader  the  notorious  "Manu- 
script Story"  ("Manuscript  Found"1)  of  the  late  Rev.  Solomon 
Spalding.  What  gives  this  document  prominence  is  the  fact 
that,  for  the  past  fifty  years,  it  has  been  made  to  do  duty  by 
the  opposers  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  and  the  Church  of  Jesus 
Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints,  as  the  source,  the  root,  and  the 
inspiration,  by  and  from  which  Joseph  Smith  and  Sydney  Rigdon 
wrote  said  Book  of  Mormon  and  organized  said  Church.  .  .  . 

This  seeming  huge  hindrance  and  insurmountable  obstacle 
which  is  always  thrown  in  the  way  of  the  investigator  with  all 
the  skill  and  power  that  craft  and  cunning  and  malice  and  fear 
and  blind  zeal  can  invent  and  command,  vanishes  from  the  pres- 
ence of  this  /original  witness  in  the  case ;  for  when  it  speaks 
it  reveals  the  flimsiness  and  falsity  of  the  claim  that  it  was  in 
any  way  or  in  any  sense  the  origin  of  the  Book  of  Mormon, 
or  that  there  is  the  least  likeness  between  the  two.  This  newly 
found  "missing  link"  completes  the  chain  of  evidence  which 
proves  that  the  "Manuscript  Found"  never  was  and  never  could 
be  made  the  occasion,  cause  or  germ  of  the  Book  of  Mormon. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  find,  among  all  that  has  been 
written  upon  this  subject,  a  more  false,  misleading  and 

1  Notice  that  the  title,  "Manuscript  Found,"  appears  in  parentheses. 
It  is  not  to  be  found  on  the  manuscript  anywhere,  and  it  is  wholly  a 
gratuitous  assumption  to  call  the  latter  the  "Manuscript  Found." 


74  THE   TRUE  ORIGIN  OF 

incorrect  statement  than  the  foregoing.  How  an  in- 
telligent and  honest  writer  could  have  penned  these 
words,  in  the  face  of  what  Howe,  Hurlburt,  Bennett  and 
Braden  had  written  prior  to  this  time  to  the  contrary,  is 
inexplicable.  The  "Manuscript  Story"  was  never  "made 
to  do  duty  by  the  opposers  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  and 
the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-Day  Saints,  as  the 
source,  the  root,  and  the  inspiration,  by  and  from  which 
Joseph  Smith  and  Sydney  Rigdon  wrote  said  Book  of 
Mormon  and  organized  said  Church."  From  1834  it  was 
expressly  denied  that  this  manuscript  had  anything  to  do 
with  the  Book  of  Mormon  or  that  it  was  the  "Manuscript 
Found."  ll  A  paragraph  review  of  it  was  given  in  Howe's 
book  in  1834,  and  the  contents  of  it  were  well  known  and 
employed  in  public  discussion*  before  the  manuscript,  it- 
self, was  found  in  1884.  The  writer  of  the  foregoing 
could  not  have  been  ignorant  of  these  facts ;  they  were  to 
be  found  in  the  books  widely  known  of  and  read  among 
the  members  of  his  church.8 

In  1834,  Howe  wrote  as  follows  of  the  "Manuscript 
Story":  * 

The  trunk  referred  to  by  the  widow  was  subsequently  ex- 
amined and  found  to  contain  only  a  single  MS.  book,  in  Spal- 
ding*s  handwriting,  containing  about  one  quire  of  paper.  This 
is  a  romance,  purporting  to  have  been  translated  from  the 


1  "Disbelievers  in  Joseph  Smith's  'find'  have  never  claimed  that  the 
Book  of  Mormon  was  a  plagiarism  of  the  Oberlin  manuscript,  and  all 
the  powder  used  by  the  Mormons  on  that  subject  is  a  wasted  explosive." 
— Stanton's  "The  Three  Movements,"  p.  43. 

'See  the  "Braden-Kelley   Debate,"   p.   91. 

'The  Mormons  well  knew  the  contents  of  the  "Manuscript  Story" 
long  before  it  was  found  in  Honolulu,  and  Reynolds,  in  his  "Myth  of  the 
Manuscript  Found,"  p.  52  (1883),  gives  the  outline  of  it.  Then,  in  the 
face  of  the  fact  that  Howe,  Bennett  and  other  anti-Mormons,  following 
the  Conneaut  testimonies  about  to  be  given,  claimed  that  the  "Manuscript 
Found"  was  a  Jewish  romance,  how  could  he  honestly  assert  that  they 
claimed  that  the  Book  of  Mormon  came  from  the  former?  There  has  been 
some  pretty  hard  Mormon  lying  all  along  the  line. 


THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON  75 

Latin,  found  on  twenty-four  rolls  of  parchment,  in  a  cave,  on 
the  banks  of  Conneaut  Creek,  but  written  in  modern  style,  and 
giving  a  fabulous  account  of  a  ship's  being  driven  upon  the 
American  coast,  while  proceeding  from  Rome  to  Britain,  a 
short  time  previous  to  the  Christian  era,  this  country  then  being 
inhabited  by  the  Indians.  This  old  MS.  has  been  shown  to 
several  of  the  foregoing  witnesses,  who  recognize  it  as  Spal- 
ding's,  he  having  told  them  that  he  had  altered  his  first  plan  of 
writing,  by  going  farther  back  with  dates,  and  writing  in  the  old 
Scripture  style,  in  order  that  it  might  appear  more  ancient 
They  say  that  it  bears  no  resemblance  to  the  "Manuscript 
Found." 

This  is  the  first  description  ever  given  in  print  of 
this  "Manuscript  Story"  which  was  afterwards  found  in 
the  possession  of  Mr.  Rice,  of  Honolulu.  And  Howe 
here  disclaims  that  it  was  the  "Manuscript  Found,"  hence 
that  it  was  the  basis  of  the  Book  of  Mormon.  Yet,  in 
the  face  of  this  fact,  we  are  coolly  told  that  this  manu- 
script has  been  made  to  do  service  "as  the  source,  the 
root,  and  the  inspiration,  by  and  from  which  Joseph 
Smith  and  Sydney  Rigdon  wrote  said  Book  of  Mormon 
and  organized  said  Church" ! 

This  same  statement  appeared  again  in  the  second 
edition  of  Howe's  book  of  1840,  and  in  Bennett's  "Mor- 
monism  Exposed"  of  1842. 

Howe,  again,  in  1881,  disclaimed  any  connection  or 
resemblance,  whatever,  between  the  "Manuscript  Story" 
and  the  "Manuscript  Found."  In  a  letter,  addressed  to 
Elder  T.  W.  Smith,  an  apostle  of  the  Reorganized 
Church,  he  says: 

PAINESVILLE,  Ohio,  July  26th,  1881. 

SIR:— Your  note  of  21  st  is  before  me,— and  I  will  answer 
your  queries  seriatim. 

1st. — The  manuscript  you  refer  to  was  not  marked  on  the 
outside  or  inside  "Manuscript  Found."  It  was  a  common-place 
story  of  some  Indian  wars  along  the  borders  of  our  Great  Lakef, 


™  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OP 

between  the  Chicagoes  and  Eries,  as  I  now   recollect1— not  in 
Bible  style — but  purely  modern. 

2d. — It  was  not  the  original  "Manuscript  Found,"  and  I  dp 
not  believe  Hurlburt  ever  had  it. 

3d. — I  never  saw  or  heard  read  the  "Manuscript  Found,"  but 
have  seen  five  or  six  persons  who  had,  and  from  their  testimony, 
concluded  it  was  very  much  like  the  Mormon  Bible. 

4th. — -Never  succeeded  in  finding  out  anything  more  than  was 
detailed  in  my  book  of  exposure  published  about  fifty  years  ago. 

5th. — The  manuscript  that  came  into  my  possession  I  suspect 
was  destroyed  by  fire  forty  years  ago. 

I  think  there  has  been  much  mist  thrown  around  the  whole 
subject  of  the  origin  of  the  Mormon  Bible  and  the  "Manuscript 
Found,"  by  the  several  statements  that  have  been  made  by  those 
who  have  been  endeavoring  to  solve  the  problem  after  sleeping 
quietly  for  half  a  century.  Every  effort  was  made  to  unravel 
the  mystery  at  the  time,  when  nearly  all  the  parties  were  on 
earth,  and  the  result  published  at  the  time,  and  I  think  it  all 
folly  to  try  to  dig  out  anything  more.  Yours,  etc., 

E.  D.  HOWE. 

Dr.  Hurlburt,  also,  bears  testimony  to  the  fact  that 
the  manuscript  which  he  obtained  from  Mrs.  Davison, 
and  which  is  now  in  Oberlin  College  Library,  is  not  the 
"Manuscript  Found."  In  a  statement  issued  at  Gibson- 
burg,  Ohio,  January  10,  1881,  he  says: 

To  all  whom  it  may  concern: 

In  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty-four  (1834),  I  went 
from  Geauga  county,  Ohio,  to  Monson,  Hampden  county,  Mass., 
where  I  found  Mrs.  Davison,  late  widow  of  the  Rev.  Solomon 
Spaulding,  late  of  Conneaut,  Ashtabula  county,  Ohio.  Of  her 
I  obtained  a  manuscript,  supposing  it  to  be  the  manuscript  of 
the  romance  written  by  the  said  Solomon  Spaulding,  called  the 
"Manuscript  Found,"  which  was  reported  to  be  the  foundation 
of  the  "Book  of  Mormon."  I  did  not  examine  the  manuscript 
till  I  got  home,  when  upon  examination  I  found  it  to  contain 

1  Notice  Howe  saying,  "As  I  now  recollect."  He  is  mistaken  in 
regard  to  the  tribes  mentioned.  They  were  not  the  Chicagoes  and  the 
Eries,  but  the  Sciotans  and  Kentucks. 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  77 

nothing  of  the  kind,  but  being  a  manuscript  upon  an  entirely 
different  subject.  This  manuscript  I  left  with  E.  D.  Howe,  of 
Painesville,  Geauga  county,  Ohio,  now  Lake  county,  Ohio,  with 
the  understanding  that  when  he  had  examined  it  he  should 
return  it  to  the  widow.  Said  Howe  says  the  manuscript  was 
destroyed  by  fire,  and  further  the  deponent  saith  not. 

(Signed)  D.  P.  HURLBURT. 

The  manuscript,  then,  which  Hurlburt  obtained  from 
Mrs.  Davison,  was  not  the  "Manuscript  Found,"  from 
which  it  is  claimed  the  Book  of  Mormon  was  taken,  but 
was  "upon  an  entirely  different  subject."  The  same  dis- 
tinction between  the  manuscripts  was  also  made  by  Clark 
Braden  in  the  celebrated  Braden-Kelley  debate,  held  at 
Kirtland,  Ohio,  in  1884,  a  short  time  before  the  Hono- 
lulu manuscript  came  to  light.1 

Reader,  when  the  Mormon  elder,  who  comes  to  your 
door  with  his  literature,  tells  you  that  the  "Manuscript 
Found,"  from  which  it  is  claimed  the  Book  of  Mormon 
was  taken,  was  discovered  in  Honolulu,  Hawaiian  Islands, 
in  1884,  and  that  they  now  have  it  in  printed  form  for 
twenty-five  cents  per  copy,  don't  you  believe  it.  The 
manuscript  from  Honolulu  is  not  the  "Manuscript 
Found,"  but  the  "Manuscript  Story ;"  the  former  may  be 
found,  revamped,  as  the  Book  of  Mormon,  at  the  pub- 
lishing-houses of  the  Brighamite  and  Josephite  Mormon 
Churches. 

1  Sec  "Braden-Kclley  Debate"  (first  e<L),  p.  75. 


78  THE   TRUE  ORIGIN  OF 


CHAPTER  V. 

Mrs.  Davison's  Boston  Recorder  letter— The  Quincy  Whig  Re- 
ply—Mrs. McKinstry's  Affidavit 

Immediately  after  the  death  of  Solomon  Spaulding, 
his  widow  removed  to  the  home  of  her  brother,  William 
H.  Sabine,  a  prominent  lawyer  of  Onondaga  Valley, 
New  York,  carrying  with  her  the  trunk  which  contained 
the  writings  of  her  deceased  husband.  In  1820,  she  was 
married  to  a  Mr.  Davison,  of  Hartwick,  near  Coopers- 
town,  New  York,  and  removed  to  that  place,  taking  the 
trunk  and  its  contents  with  her.  And  eight  years  later 
we  find  her  at  Monson,  Massachusetts,  living  with  her 
daughter,  Mrs.  McKinstry,  having  left  the  trunk  at  Hart- 
wick  in  the  care  of  her  cousin,  Jerome  Clark. 

It  has  been  the  contention  of  some  that  Spaulding 
made  several  drafts  of  the  "Manuscript  Found,"  one  of 
which  was  in  the  trunk  while  it  remained  at  the  house  of 
Squire  Sabine  at  Onondaga  Valley,  and  that  Joseph 
Smith,  who  worked  as  a  teamster  for  Sabine,  either  stole 
or  copied  it.  But  I  am  convinced  that  this  contention  is 
not  correct,  for,  if  Smith  worked  for  Sabine  at  this 
time,  as  alleged,1  but  which  is  doubtful,  he  was  both 
too  young  and  too  illiterate  to  have  taken  much  interest 
in  such  a  romance,  and  the  "single  manuscript"  which 
this  trunk  contained  is  now  known  to  have  been,  not 
the  "Manuscript  Found,"  but  the  "Manuscript  Story," 
while  the  testimony  of  Joseph  Miller,  a  friend  of  Spaul- 
ding at  Amity,  Pennsylvania,  reveals  the  fact  that  the 
"Manuscript  Found,"  itself,  was  stolen  from  the  Patter- 

»"New  Light  on  Monnonism,"  p.  21. 


THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON  79 

son  printing-office  before  Spaulding's  death,  which  oc- 
curred in  1816.  The  confusion  upon  this  point  largely 
arises  from  the  letters  of  Mrs.  Davison  and  her  daughter, 
Mrs.  McKinstry,  who  seem  to  have  retained  but  a  vague 
recollection  of  what  Spaulding  wrote  and  to  have  paid 
but  little  attention  to  his  writings  after  his  death.  In 
the  letters  of  both,  while  a  number  of  statements  are  un- 
doubtedly correct,  there  is  a  distinct  tendency  to  identify 
the  "single  manuscript"  in  the  old  hair  trunk  with  the 
"Manuscript  Found,"  which  is  disproved  by  that  manu- 
script, itself,  since  its  discovery  in  1884. 

MRS.  DAVISON'S  BOSTON  "RECORDER"  LETTER. 

In  1838-39,  the  missionaries  of  the  Mormon  Church 
opened  operations  in  the  town  of  Holliston,  Massachu- 
setts. In  that  town  there  existed  a  Congregational  church 
of  which  the  Rev.  John  Storrs  was  the  pastor.  Some 
of  the  members  of  Dr.  Storrs5  church  became  proselytes 
to  the  Mormon  faith,  and  this  caused  him  to  bestir 
himself  to  action,1  and,  through  Prof.  D.  R.  Austin, 
principal  of  the  Monson  (Massachusetts)  Academy,  he 
obtained  a  statement  from  Mrs.  Davison  which  he  pub- 
lished in  May,  1839,  in  the  Boston  Recorder.  This  state- 
ment of  Mrs.  Davison  is  as  follows : 

As  the  Book  of  Mormon,  or  Golden  Bible  (as  it  was  origi- 
nally called),  has  excited  much  attention,  and  is  deemed  by  a 
certain  new  sect  of  equal  authority  with  the  Sacred  Scriptures, 
I  think  it  is  a  duty  which  I  owe  to  the  public  to  state  what  I 
know  touching  its  origin. 

That  its  claims   to  a   divine   origin   are   wholly  unfounded 


>P.  P.  Pratt  says:  "If  the  public  will  be  patient,  they  will  doubtless 
find  that  the  piece  signed  'Matilda  Davison'  (Spaulding's  widow)  is  a  base 
fabrication  by  Priest  Storrs,  of  Holliston,  Massachusetts,  in  order  to  save 
his  craft,  after  losing  the  deacon  of  his  church,  and  several  of  its  most 
pious  and  intelligent  members,  who  left  his  society  to  embrace  what  they 
considered  to  be  truth." — Letter  in  Ntvi  York  Era,  1839. 


80  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

needs  no  proof  to  a  mind  unperverted  by  the  grossest  delusions. 
That  any  sane  person  should  rank  it  higher  than  any  other 
merely  human  composition  is  a  matter  of  the  greatest  astonish- 
ment; yet  it  is  received  as  divine  by  some  who  dwell  in  enlight- 
ened New  England,  and  even  by  those  who  have  sustained  the 
character  of  devoted  Christians.  Learning  recently  that  Mor- 
monism  had  found  its  way  into  a  church  in  Massachusetts,  and 
has  impregnated  some  with  its  gross  delusions,  so  that  excom- 
munication has  been  necessary,  I  am  determined  to  delay  no 
longer  in  doing  what  I  can  to  strip  the  mask  from  this  mother 
of  sin,  and  to  lay  open  this  pit  of  abominations. 

Solomon  Spaulding,  to  whom  I  was  united  in  marriage  in 
early  life,  was  a  graduate  of  Dartmouth  College,  and  was  dis- 
tinguished for  a  lively  imagination,  and  a  great  fondness  for 
history.  At  the  time  of  our  marriage  he  resided  in  Cherry 
Valley,  New  York.  From  this  place,  we  removed  to  New 
Salem,  Ashtabula  county,  Ohio,  sometimes  called  Conneaut,  as 
it  is  situated  on  Conneaut  Creek.  Shortly  after  our  removal 
to  this  place,  his  health  sunk,  and  he  was  laid  aside  from  active 
labors.  In  the  town  of  New  Salem  there  are  numerous  mounds 
and  forts  supposed  by  many  to  be  the  dilapidated  dwellings  and 
fortifications  of  a  race  now  extinct.  These  ancient  relics  arrest 
the  attention  of  the  new  settlers,  and  become  objects  of  research 
for  the  curious.  Numerous  implements  were  found,  and  other 
articles  evincing  great  skill  in  the  arts.  Mr.  Spaulding  being  an 
educated  man,  and  passionately  fond  of  history,  took  a  lively 
interest  in  these  developments  of  antiquity;  and  in  order  to 
beguile  the  hours  of  retirement  and  furnish  employment  for  his 
lively  imagination,  he  conceived  the  idea  of  giving  an  historical 
sketch  of  this  long  lost  race.  Their  extreme  antiquity  led  him 
to  write  in  the  most  ancient  style,  and  as  the  Old  Testament  is 
the  most  ancient  book  in  the  world,  he  imitated  its  style  as 
nearly  as  possible.  His  sole  object  in  writing  this  imaginary 
history  was  to  amuse  himself  and  his  neighbors.  This  was  about 
the  year  1812.  Hull's  surrender  at  Detroit  occurred  near  the 
same  time,  and  I  recollect  the  date  well  from  that  circumstance. 
As  he  progressed  in  his  narrative,  the  neighbors  would  come  in 
from  time  to  time  to  hear  portions  read,  and  a  great  interest 
in  the  work  was  excited  among  them.  It  claimed  to  have  been 
written  by  one  of  the  lost  nation,  and  to  have  been  recovered 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  81 

from  the  earth,  and  assumed  the  title  of  "Manuscript  Found." 
The  neighbors  would  often  inquire  how  Mr.  Spaulding  pro- 
gressed in  deciphering  the  manuscript;  and  when  he  had  a  suf- 
ficient portion  prepared,  he  would  inform  them,  and  they  would 
assemble  to  hear  it  read.  He  was  enabled,  from  his  acquaintance 
with  the  classics  and  ancient  history,  to  introduce  many  singular 
names,  which  were  particularly  noticed  by  the  people,  and  could 
be  easily  recognized  by  them.  Mr.  Solomon  Spaulding  had  a 
brother,  Mr.  John  Spaulding,  residing  in  the  place  at  the  time, 
who  was  perfectly  familiar  with  the  work,  and  repeatedly  heard 
the  whole  of  it  read.  From  New  Salem  we  removed  to  Pitts- 
burg,  in  Pennsylvania.  Here  Mr.  Spaulding  found  a  friend  and 
acquaintance  in  the  person  of  Mr.  Patterson,  an  editor  of  a 
newspaper.  He  exhibited  his  manuscript  to  Mr.  Patterson,  who 
was  very  much  pleased  with  it,  and  borrowed  it  for  perusal.  He 
retained  it  for  a  long  time,  and  informed  Mr.  Spaulding  that 
if  he  would  make  out  a  title  page  and  preface,  he  would  publish 
it  and  it  might  be  a  source  of  profit.  This  Mr.  Spaulding  re- 
fused to  do.  Sidney  Rigdon,  who  has  figured  so  largely  in  the 
history  of  the  Mormons,  was  at  that  time  connected  with  the 
printing  office  of  Mr.  Patterson,  as  is  well  known  in  that  region, 
and  as  Rigdon  himself  has  frequently  stated,  became  acquainted 
with  Mr.  Spaulding's  manuscript,  and  copied  it.  It  was  a  matter 
of  notoriety  and  interest  to  all  connected  with  the  printing 
establishment.  At  length  the  manuscript  was  returned  to  its 
author,  and  soon  after  we  removed  to  Amity,  Washington 
county,  etc.,  where  Mr.  Spaulding  deceased  in  1816.  The  manu- 
script then  fell  into  my  hands,  and  was  carefully  preserved. 
It  has  frequently  been  examined  by  my  daughter,  Mrs.  M'Kens- 
try,  of  Monson,  Mass.,  with  whom  I  now  reside,  and  by  other 
friends. 

After  the  Book  of  Mormon  came  out,  a  copy  of  it  was 
taken  to  New  Salem,  the  place  of  Mr.  Spaulding's  former  resi- 
dence, and  the  very  place  where  the  "Manuscript  Found"  was 
written.  A  woman1  preacher  appointed  a  meeting  there;  and  in 


1  Mormons  claim  that  they  never  had  a  "woman  preacher,"  and  use 
this  as  one  of  the  arguments  in  their  attempt  to  discredit  Mrs.  Davison's 
testimony.  But  it  does  not  say  that  it  was  a  Mormon  "woman  preacher." 
It  may  have  been  a  woman  preacher  of  some  other  connection.  The 
probability,  however,  is  that  it  is  a  typographical  error  for  "Mormon 
preacher."  Or  it  may  have  been  some  lady  convert  to  Mormonism,  who, 


82  THE  TRUE  ORIGIN  OP 

the  meeting  read  and  repeated  copious  extracts  from  the  Book 
of  Mormon.  The  historical  part  was  immediately  recognized 
by  all  the  older  inhabitants,  as  the  identical  work  of  Mr.  Spaul- 
ding, in  which  they  had  all  been  so  deeply  interested  years  before. 
Mr.  John  Spaulding  was  present  and  recognized  perfectly  the 
work  of  his  brother.  He  vas  amazed  and  afflicted  that  it  should 
have  been  perverted  to  so  wicked  a  purpose.  His  grief  found 
vent  in  a  flood  of  tears,  and  he  arose  on  the  spot,  and  expressed 
to  the  meeting  his  sorrow  and  regret  that  the  writings  of  his 
deceased  brother  should  be  used  for  a  purpose  so  vile  and 
shocking.  The  excitement  in  New  Salem  became  so  great,  that 
the  inhabitants  had  a  meeting,  and  deputed  Dr.  Philastrus  Hurl- 
burt,  one  of  their  number,  to  repair  to  this  place  and  to  obtain 
from  me  the  original  manuscript  of  Mr.  Spaulding,  for  the 
purpose,  of  comparing  it  with  the  Mormon  Bible,  to  satisfy  their 
own  minds,  and  to  prevent  their  friends  from  embracing  an 
error  so  delusive.  This  was  in  the  year  1834.  Dr.  Hurlburt 
brought  with  him  an  introduction  and  request  for  the  manu- 
script, which  was  signed  by  Messrs.  Henry  Lake,  Aaron  Wright, 
and  others,  with  all  of  whom  I  was  acquainted,  as  they  were  my 
neighbors  when  I  resided  at  New  Salem.  I  am  sure  that  nothing 
would  grieve  my  husband  more,  were  he  living,  than  the  use 
which  has  been  made  of  his  work.  The  air  of  antiquity  which 
was  thrown  about  the  composition,  doubtless  suggested  the 
idea  of  converting  it  to  the  purposes  of  delusion.  Thus  an 
historical  romance,  with  the  addition  of  a  few  pious  expressions, 
and  extracts  from  the  sacred  Scriptures,  has  been  construed  into 
a  new  Bible,  and  palmed  off  upon  a  company  of  poor  deluded 
fanatics  as  Divine.  I  have  given  the  previous  brief  narration, 
that  this  work  of  deep  deception  and  wickedness  may  be  searched 
to  the  foundation  and  the  authors  exposed  to  the  contempt  and 
execration  they  so  justly  deserve. 

(Signed)  MATILDA  DAVISON. 

This  letter  of  Mrs.  Davison,  judging  from  the  facts 
that  we  now  possess,  presents  to  us  a  strange  conglom- 

while  not  a  preacher  officially,  was  practically  such  by  reading  copious 
extracts  from  the  Book  of  Mormon.  Mormon  women  are  not  forbidden 
taking  part  in  their  social  services,  and  I  have  heard  them  do  as  much 
as  claimed  here. 


THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON  83 

eration  of  truth  and  error.  This  confusion  is,  doubtless, 
due  to  the  failure  of  memory  during  the  lapse  of  time 
between  the  death  of  her  husband  and  the  date  of  her 
writing.  She  is  certain  that  one  of  her  husband's  ro- 
mances resembled  the  Book  of  Mormon  and  was  written 
in  imitation  of  the  Old  Testament  style  of  speech.  In 
this  supposition  she  is  doubtless  correct.  But  she  is  also 
certain  that  this  manuscript  was  copied  by  Rigdon  while 
it  lay  in  the  Patterson  printing-office,  and  that  it  was 
afterwards  returned  to  her  family  and  was  by  them  care- 
fully preserved  until  it  was  delivered  to  Dr.  Hurlburt. 
In  this  she  is  doubtless  incorrect.  Everything  goes  to 
show  that  the  "Manuscript  Found"  was  not  finally  re- 
turned to  the  Spaulding  family,  but  that  it  was  stolen, 
not  copied,  by  Sidney  Rigdon,  who,  with  the  assistance 
of  Smith  and  Cowdery,  transformed  it  into  the  Book  of 
Mormon.  Mrs.  Davison  has  made  a  mistake  in  sup- 
posing1 that  the  manuscript  which  she  preserved  so  long 
was  the  "Manuscript  Found,"  whereas  it  was  an  entirely 
different  manuscript  upon  an  entirely  different  subject. 

THE   QUINCY   "WHIG"   REPLY. 

Some  months  after  the  purported  letter  of  Mrs.  Davi- 
son appeared  in  the  Boston  Recorder,  the  following  inter- 
view was  published,  in  reply,  in  the  Whig  of  Quincy, 
Illinois : 


1  At  another  time,  Mrs.  Davison  was  not  so  certain  that  the  "Manu- 
script Found"  was  returned  to.  her  family  or  that  it  was  the  trunk 
manuscript.  Howe  says:  "She  states  that  Spaulding  had  a  great  variety 
of  manuscripts,  and  recollects  that  one  was  entitled  the  'Manuscript 
Found;'  but  of  its  contents  she  has  now  no  distinct  knowledge.  While 
they  lived  in  Pittsburgh,  she  thinks  it  was  once  taken  to  the  printing-office 
of  Patterson  &  Lambdin;  but  whether  it  was  ever  brought  back  to  the 
house  again,  she  is  quite  uncertain;  if  it  was,  however,  it  was  then,  with 
his  other  writings,  in  a  trunk  which  she  had  left  in  Otsego  County,  New 
York." — Quoted  in  "Mormonism  Exposed,"  p.  120. 


84  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

A   CUNNING  DEVICE  DETECTED. 

It  will  be  recollected  that  a  few  months  since  an  article  ap- 
peared in  several  of  the  papers,  purporting  to  give  an  account 
of  the  origin  of  the  Book  of  Mormon.  How  far  the  writer  of 
that  piece  has  effected  his  purposes,  or  what  his  purposes  were 
in  pursuing  the  course  he  has,  I  shall  not  attempt  to  say  at  this 
time,  but  shall  call  upon  every  candid  man  to  judge  in  this 
matter  for  himself,  and  shall  content  myself  by  presenting  be- 
fore the  public  the  other  side  of  the  question  in  the  form  of  a 
letter,  as  follows: 

Copy  of  a  letter  written  by  Mr.  John  Haven,  of  Holliston, 
Middlesex  Co.,  Massachusetts,  to  his  daughter,  Elizabeth  Haven, 
of  Quincy,  Adams  Co.,  Illinois. 

"Your  brother  Jesse  passed  through  Monson,  where  he  saw 
Mrs.  Davison  and  her  daughter,  Mrs.  McKinstry,  and  also  Dr. 
Ely,  and  spent  several  hours  with  them,  during  which  time  he 
asked  them  the  following  questions,  viz. : 

"Question — Did  you,  Mrs.  Davison,  write  a  letter  to  John 
Storrs,  giving  an  account  of  the  origin  of  the  Book  of  Mormon? 

"Answer — I  did  not. 

"Q. — Did  you  sign  your  name  to  it? 

"A. — I  did  not,  neither  did  I  ever  see  the  letter  until  I  saw 
it  in  the  Boston  Recorder,  the  letter  was  never  brought  to  me 
to  sign. 

"Q. — What  agency  had  you  in  having  this  letter  sent  to  Mr. 
Storrs? 

"A. — D.  R.  Austin  came  to  my  house  and  asked  me  some 
questions,  took  some  minutes  on  paper,  and  from  these  minutes 
wrote  that  letter. 

"Q. — Have  you  read  the  Book  of  Mormon? 

"A. — I  have  read  some  of  it. 

"Q.— Does  Mr.  Spaulding's  manuscript  and  the  Book  of  Mor- 
mon agree? 

"A.— I  think  some  few  of  the  names  are  alike. 

"Q.— Does  the  manuscript  describe  an  idolatrous  or  a  re- 
ligious pepole? 

"A. — An  idolatrous  people. 

"Q.— Where  is  the  manuscript? 

"A.— D.  P.  Hurlburt  came  here  and  took  it,  said  he  would 
get  it  printed  and  let  me  have  one  half  of  the  profits. 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  86 

"Q.— Has  D.  P.  Hurlburt  got  the  manuscript  printed? 

"A.— I  received  a  letter  stating  that  it  did  not  read  as  he 
expected,  and  he  should  not  print  it. 

"Q. — How  large  is  Mr.  Spaulding's  manuscript? 

"A.— About  one-third  as  large  as  the  Book  of  Mormon. 

"Q._To  Mrs.  McKinstry:  How  old  were  you  when  your 
father  wrote  the  manuscript? 

"A.— About  five  years  of  age. 

"Q. — Did  you  ever  read  the  manuscript? 

''A.— When  I  was  about  twelve  years  old  I  used  to  read  it 
for  diversion. 

"Q. — Did  the  manuscript  describe  an  idolatrous  or  a  religious 
people  ? 

"A.— An  idolatrous  people. 

"Q. — Does  the  manuscript  and  the  Book  of  Mormon  agree? 

"A. — I  think  some  of  the  names  agree. 

"Q. — Are  you  certain  that  some  of  the  names  agree? 

"A. — I  am  not. 

"Q. — Have  you  read  any  in  the  Book  of  Mormon? 

"A.— I  have  not. 

"Q. — Was  your  name  attached  to  that  letter,  which  was  sent 
to  Mr.  John  Storrs,  by  your  order? 

"A. — No,  I  never  meant  that  my  name  should  be  there. 

"You  see  by  the  above  questions  and  answers,  that  Mr,  Austin, 
in  his  great  zeal  to  destroy  the  Latter-day  Saints,  has  asked  Mrs. 
Davison  a  few  questions,  then  wrote  a  letter  to  Mr.  Storrs  in 
his  own  language.  I  do  not  say  that  the  above  questions  and 
answers  werfe  given  in  the  form  that  I  have  written  them,  but 
these  questions  were  asked,  and  these  answers  given.  Mrs. 
Davison  is  about  seventy  years  of  age,  and  somewhat  broken." 

This  may  certify  that  I  am  personally  acquainted  with  Mr. 
Haven,  his  son  and  daughter,  and  am  satisfied  they  are  persons 
of  truth.  I  have  also  read  Mr.  Haven's  letter  to  his  daughter, 
which  has  induced  me  to  copy  it  for  publication,  and  I  further 
say,  the  above  is  a  correct  copy  of  Mr.  Haven's  letter. 

A.  BADLAM.* 

There  are  a  few  points  in  this  "Cunning  Device  De- 


1 1   have  copied  this  letter  from   Reynolds'   "Myth  of  the   Manuscript 
Found,"  pp.  21,  22. 


86  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

tected" l  to  which  it  will  be  well  to  call  the  reader's  at- 
tention : 

First,  if  the  purported  letter  of  Mrs.  Davison,  as 
published  in  the  Boston  Recorder,  is  not  genuine,  but  is 
the  production  of  Principal  D.  R.  Austin,  this  may  ac- 
count for  the  errors  which  it  contains,  and  which  have 
been  circulated  as  truths  by  the  Mormons  themselves. 
By  this  letter,  the  Mormons  have  zealously  sought  to 
establish  the  identity  of  the  "Manuscript  Found"  with 
the  "single  manuscript"  in  the  old  hair  trunk  and  which 
afterwards  fell  into  the  hands  of  Hurlburt. 

Secondly,  the  charge  is  made  that  the  "Cunning  De- 
vice Detected,"  as  I  have  given  it  and  as  it  appears  in 
present-day  Mormon  literature,  has  been  maliciously  gar- 
bled and  an  important  admission  of  Mrs.  Davison  left 
out.  A.  T.  Schroeder,  in  his  excellent  little  pamphlet, 
"The  Origin  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  Re-examined  in 
Its  Relation  to  the  Spaulding's  Manuscript  Found,"  page 
I3>  says: 

On  page  22  of  the  "Myth  of  the  Manuscript  Found"  this  in- 
terview appears  with  the  statement  that  the  Boston  Recorder 
article  was  in  the  main  true,  carefully  omitted. 

Thomas  Gregg,  also,  claims  that  the  admission  of 
Mrs.  Davison,  that  the  Boston  Recorder  article  "was  in 
the  main  true,"  was  to  be  found  in  the  Mormon  paper, 
the  Times  and  Seasons,  Vol.  L,  p.  47.*" 

If  this  is  true,  why  have  the  Mormons  left  this  im- 
portant admission  out  of  their  later  publications  of  the 
Haven  letter?* 

Thirdly,  Haven  does  just  what  Austin  is  accused  of 

*I  have  tried  to  locate  the  files  of  the  Quincy  Whig,  containing  ihit 
letter,  but  so  far  have  been  unsuccessful. 

•"Prophet  of  Palmyra,"  p.  421. 

•If  this  is  true,  it  is  not  the  first  time  that  Mormonism  has  garbled 
testimony  to  further  its  ends. 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  87 

having  done.  He  declares  that  Mrs.  Davison  told  his 
son,  Jesse,  that  she  did  not  write  or  sign  the  Boston 
Recorder  letter,  but  that  Professor  Austin  came  to  her 
home,  asked  some  questions,  took  down  some  minutes 
and  wrote  the  letter.  And  then  Haven,  himself,  admits 
that  the  questions  and  answers  in  the  "Cunning  Device 
Detected"  are  not  given  in  their  original  form.  So,  if 
there  are  just  grounds  for  questioning  the  Boston  Re- 
corder letter,  there  are  equally  as  just  grounds  for  ques- 
tioning the  Quincy  Whig  reply.  If  Mrs.  Davison  did  not 
write  and  sign  the  former,  she  certainly  did  not  write 
and  sign  the  latter,  and,  by  his  own  admission,  Haven 
took  as  much  liberty  with  what  Mrs.  Davison  told  his 
son,  Jesse,  as  Austin  took  with  what  Mrs.  Davison  told 
him.  And,  in  favor  of  the  Boston  Recorder  letter,  we 
have  the  admission  published  in  the  Mormon  paper,  the 
Times  and  Seasons,  that  it  was  "in  the  main  true." 

Fourthly,  this  purported  interview  with  Mrs.  Davison 
and  her  daughter,  Mrs.  McKinstry,  disagrees  with  the 
sworn  statement  of  Mrs.  McKinstry  afterwards  made. 
In  her  purported  interview  with  Jesse  Haven,  we  find  the 
following  questions  and  answers: 

Q.— Does  the  manuscript  and  the  Book  of  Mormon  agree? 
A. — I  think  some  of  the  names  agree. 
Q. — Are  you  certain  that  some  of  the  names  agree? 
A. — I  am  not. 

In  her  sworn  statement,  on  this  point,  which  we  shall 
presently  give,  Mrs.  McKinstry  says: 

Afterward  he  (Spaulding)  read  the  manuscript  which  I  had 
seen  him  writing,  to  the  neighbors  and  to  a  clergyman,  a  friend 
of  his,  who  came  to  see  him.  Some  of  the  names  that  he  men- 
tioned, while  reading  to  these  people,  I  have  never  forgotten. 
They  are  as  fresh  to  me  today  as  though  I  heard  them  yesterday. 
They  were  Mormon,  Maroni,  Lamenite,  Nephi. 


88  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

In  the  Haven  letter,  Mrs.  McKinstry  is  said  to  have 
been  uncertain  in  regard  to  the  identity  of  certain  names 
in  her  father's  manuscript  with  those  in  the  Book  of 
Mormon ;  in  her  affidavit,  made  in  1880,  she  says  that 
the  four  Book  of  Mormon  names  given  were  as  fresh  to 
her  then  as  though  she  had  heard  them  only  the  day 
before.  It  seems  very  probable  that  Haven,  who  was  evi- 
dently either  a  Mormon  or  a  Mormon  sympathizer,  wrote 
down  the  answers  of  Mrs.  McKinstry  so  as  to  make  them 
appear  as  favorable  as  possible  to  the  claims  of  the  Book 
of  Mormon — an  art  in  which  the  Mormons  are  partic- 
ularly accomplished. 

MRS.  M'KINSTRY'S  AFFIDAVIT. 

Mrs.  Matilda  Spaulding  McKinstry  has  left  us  the 
following  sworn  statement  in  regard  to  the  manuscripts 
of  her  father: 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C,  April  3rd,  1880. 

So  much  has  been  published  that  is  erroneous  concerning  the 
"Manuscript  Found,"  written  by  my  father,  the  Rev.  Solomon 
Spaulding,  and  its  supposed  connection  with  the  book,  called  the 
Mormon  Bible,  I  have  willingly  consented  to  make  the  following 
statement  regarding  it,  repeating  all  that  I  remember  personally 
of  this  manuscript,  and  all  that  is  of  importance  which  my 
mother  related  to  me  in  connection  with  it,  at  the  same  time 
affirming  that  I  am  in  tolerable  health  and  vigor,  and  that  my 
memory,  in  common  with  elderly  people,  is  clearer  in  regard  to 
the  events  of  my  earlier  years,  rather  than  those  of  my  maturer 
life. 

During  the  war  of  1812,  I  was  residing  with  my  parents  in  a 
little  town  in  Ohio  called  Conneaut.  I  was  then  in  my  sixth 
yeaf.  My  father  was  in  business  there,  and  I  remember  his 
iron  foundry  and  the  men  he  had  at  work,  but  that  he  remained 
at  home  most  of  the  time  and  was  reading  and  writing  a  great 
deal.  He  frequently  wrote  little  stories,  which  he  read  to  me. 
There  were  some  round  mounds  of  earth  near  our  house  which 
greatly  interested  him,  and  he  said  a  tree  on  the  top  of  one  of 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  89 

them  was  a  thousand  years  old.  He  set  some  of  his  men  to 
work  digging  into  one  of  these  mounds,  and  I  vividly  remember 
how  excited  he  became  when  he  heard  that  they  had  exhumed 
some  human  bones,  portions  of  gigantic  skeletons,  and  various 
relics.  He  talked  with  my  mother  of  these  discoveries  in  the 
mound,  and  was  writing  every  day  as  the  work  progressed. 
Afterward  he  read  the  manuscript  which  I  had  seen  him  writing, 
to  the  neighbors  and  to  a  clergyman,  a  friend  of  his,  who  came 
to  see  him.  Some  of  the  names  that  he  mentioned  while  reading 
to  these  people  I  have  never  forgotten.  They  are  as  fresh  to 
me  today  as  though  I  heard  them  yesterday.  They  were  Mor- 
mon, Maroni,  Lamenite,  Nephi. 

We  removed  from  Conneaut  to  Pittsburg  while  I  was  still 
very  young,  but  every  circumstance  of  this  removal  is  distinct 
in  my  memory.  In  that  city  my  father  had  an  intimate  friend 
named  Patterson,  and  I  frequently  visited  Mr.  Patterson's  library 
with  him,  and  heard  my  father  talk  about  books  with  him.  In 
1816  my  father  died  at  Amity,  Pennsylvania,  and  directly  after 
his  death  my  mother  and  myself  went  to  visit  at  the  residence 
of  my  mother's  brother,  William  H.  Sabine,  at  Onondaga  Val- 
ley, Onondaga  County,  New  York.  Mr.  Sabine  was  a  lawyer  oi 
distinction  and  wealth,  and  greatly  respected.  We  carried  all 
our  personal  effects  with  us,  and  one  of  these  was  an  old  trunk, 
in  which  my  mother  had  placed  all  my  father's  writings  which 
had  been  preserved.  I  perfectly  remember  the  appearance  of 
this  trunk,  and  of  looking  at  its  contents.  There  were  sermons 
and  other  papers,  and  I  saw  a  manuscript,  about  an  inch  thick, 
closely  w/ritten,  tied  with  some  of  the  stories  my  father  had 
written  for  me,  one  of  which  he  called  "The  Frogs  of  Wynd- 
ham."  On  the  outside  of  this  wrapper  were  written  the  words, 
"Manuscript  Found."  I  did  not  read  it,  but  looked  through  it 
and  had  it  in  my  hands  many  times,  and  saw  the  names  I  had 
heard  at  Conneaut,  when  my  father  read  it  to  his  friends.  I 
was  about  eleven  years  of  age  at  this  time. 

After  we  had  been  at  my  uncle's  for  some  time,  my  mother 
left  me  there  and  went  to  her  father's  house  at  Pomfret,  Con- 
necticut, but  did  not  take  her  furniture  nor  the  old  trunk  of 
manuscripts  with  her.  In  1820  she  married  Mr.  Davison,  of 
Hartwicks,  a  village  near  Cooperstown,  New  York,  and  sent  for 
the  things  she  had  left  at  Onondaga  Valley,  and  I  remember  that 


90  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN  OP 

the  old  trunk,  with  its  contents,  reached  her  in  safety.  In  1828, 
I  was  married  to  Dr.  A.  McKinstry  of  Hampden  County,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  went  there  to  reside.  Very  soon  after  my  mother 
joined  me  there,  and  was  with  me  most  of  the  time  until  her 
death  in  1844.  We  heard,  not  long  after  she  came  to  live  with 
me — I  do  not  remember  just  how  long — something  of  Mor- 
monism,  and  the  report  that  it  had  been  taken  from  my  father's 
"Manuscript  Found;"  and  then  came  to  us  direct  an  account  of 
the  Mormon  meeting  at  Conneaut,  Ohio,  and  that,  on  one  occa- 
sion, when  the  Mormon  Bible  was  read  there  in  public,  my 
father's  brother,  John  Spaulding,  Mr.  Lake  and  many  other 
persons  who  were  present,  at  once  recognized  its  similarity  to 
the  "Manuscript  Found,"  which  they  had  heard  read  years  be- 
fore by  my  father  in  the  same  town.  There  was  a  great  deal 
of  talk  and  a  great  deal  published  at  this  time  about  Mormonism 
all  over  the  country.  I  believe  it  was  in  1834  that  a  man  named 
Hurlburt  came  to  my  house  at  Monson  to  see  my  mother,  who 
told  us  that  he  had  been  sent  by  a  committee  to  procure  the 
"Manuscript  Found"  written  by  the  Rev.  Solomon  Spaulding, 
so  as  to  compare  it  with  the  Mormon  Bible.  He  presented  a 
letter  to  my  mother  from  my  uncle,  Wm.  H.  Sabine,  of  Onon- 
daga  Valley,  in  which  he  requested  her  to  loan  this  manuscript 
to  Hurlburt,  as  he  (my  uncle)  was  desirous  "to  uproot  (as  he 
expressed  it)  this  Mormon  fraud."  Hurlburt  represented  that 
he  had  been  a  convert  to  Mormonism,  but  had  given  it  up,  and 
through  the  "Manuscript  Found/'  wished  to  expose  its  wicked- 
ness. My  mother  was  careful  to  have  me  with  her  in  all  the 
conversations  she  had  with  Hurlburt,  who  spent  a  day  at  my 
house.  She  did  not  like  his  appearance  and  mistrusted  his 
motives,  l.ut  having  great  respect  for  her  brother's  wishes  and 
opinions,  she  reluctantly  consented  to  his  request.  The  old 
trunk,  containing  the  desired  "Manuscript  Found,"  she  had 
placed  in  the  care  of  Mr.  Jerome  Clark  of  Hartwicks,  when 
she  came  to  Monson,  intending  to  send  for  it.  On  the  re- 
peated promise  of  Hurlburt  to  return  the  manuscript  to  us,  she 
gave  him  a  letter  to  Mr.  Clark  to  open  the  trunk  and  deliver 
it  to  him.  We  afterwards  heard  tha*  he  had  received  it  from 
Mr.  Clark,  at  Hartwicks,  but  from  that  time  we  have  never  had 
it  in  our  possession,  and  I  have  no  present  knowledge  of  its 
existence,  Hurlburt  never  returning  it  or  answering  letters  re- 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  91 

questing  him  to  do  so.  Two  years  ago,  I  heard  he  was  still 
living  in  Ohio,  and  with  my  consent  he  was  asked  for  the 
"Manuscript  Found."  He  made  no  response  although  we  have 
evidence  that  he  received  the  letter  containing  the  request.  So 
far  I  have  stated  facts  within  my  own  knowledge.  My  mother 
mentioned  many  other  circumstances  to  me  in  connection  with 
this  subject  which  are  interesting,  of  my  father's  literary  tastes, 
his  fine  education  and  peculiar  temperament.  She  stated  to  me 
that  she  had  heard  the  manuscript  alluded  to  read  by  my  father, 
was  familiar  with  its  contents,  and  she  deeply  regretted  that  her 
husband,  as  she  believed,  had  innocently  been  the  means  of 
furnishing  matter  for  a  religious  delusion.  She  said  that  my 
father  loaned  this  "Manuscript  Found"  to  Mr.  Patterson,  of 
Pittsburg,  and  that  when  he  returned  it  to  my  father,  he  said: 
"Polish  it  up,  finish  it  and  you  will  make  money  out  of  it." 
My  mother  confirmed  my  remembrances  of  my  father's  fondness 
for  history,  and  told  me  of  his  frequent  conversations  regarding 
a  theory  which  he  had  of  a  prehistoric  race  which  had  inhabited 
this  continent,  etc.,  all  showing  that  his  mind  dwelt  on  this 
subject.  The  "Manuscript  Found,"  she  said,  was  a  romance 
written  in  Biblical  style,  and  that  while  she  heard  it  read,  she 
had  no  special  admiration  for  it  more  than  other  romances  he 
wrote  and  read  to  her.  We  never,  either  of  us,  ever  saw,  or  in 
any  way  communicated  with  the  Mormons,  save  Hurlburt  as 
above  described;  and  while  we  have  no  personal  knowledge  that 
the  Mormon  Bible  was  taken  from  the  "Manuscript  Found," 
there  were  many  evidences  to  us  that  it  was  and  that  Hurlburt 
and  the  others  at  the  time  thought  so.  A  convincing  proof  to 
us  of  this  belief  was  that  my  uncle,  William  H.  Sabine,  had 
undoubtedly  read  the  manuscript  while  it  was  in  his  house,  and 
his  faith  that  its  production  would  show  to  the  world  that  the 
Mormon  Bible  had  been  taken  from  it,  or  was  the  same  with 
slight  alterations.  I  have  frequently  answered  questions  which 
have  been  asked  by  different  persons  regarding  the  "Manuscript 
Found,"  but  until  now  have  never  made  a  statement  at  length 
for  publication.  (Signed)  M.  S.  McKiNSTRY. 

Sworn  and  subscribed  to  before  me  this  3rd  day  of  April, 
A.  D.  1880,  at  the  city  of  Washington,  D.  C. 

CHARLES  WALTER,  Notary  Public.* 


This  affidavit  was  first  published  in  Scribner's  Monthly  for  August,  1880. 


92  THE    TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

We  call  the  attention  of  the  reader  to  the  following 
points  which  are  brought  out  in  the  foregoing  affidavit: 

First,  Mrs.  McKinstry  certifies  that  her  mother  told 
her  that  her  father  wrote  a  number  of  romances. 

Secondly,  she  states  further  that  one  of  these  ro- 
mances, called  the  "Manuscript  Found,"  resembled  the 
Book  of  Mormon  in  the  use  of  such  proper  names  as 
Mormon,  Maroni,  Lamenite  and  Nephi.  This  manu- 
script, then,  could  not  have  been  the  one  that  Hurlburt 
afterwards  obtained  from  the  old  trunk,  for  that  manu- 
script contains  no  such  names  as  these. 

Thirdly,  she  declares  that  her  mother  informed  her 
that  the  "Manuscript  Found"  was  written  in  Biblical 
style;  another  proof  that  it  was  not  the  manuscript  now 
in  the  library  of  Oberlin  College,  which  is  not  written  in 
Biblical  style. 

Fourthly,  she  states  that  the  manuscript  in  the  old 
trunk  was  examined  by  her  when  eleven  years  of  age 
and  that  it  had  the  words  "Manuscript  Found"  written 
on  the  wrapper.  In  this  we  know  that  she  was  mis- 
taken, for  no  such  title  appears  on  the  manuscript  found 
in  Honolulu.  But  the  words,  "Manuscript  Story — Con- 
neaut  Creek,"  do  appear  in  "faint  penciling."  This  is 
the  title  which  Mrs.  McKinstry  undoubtedly  saw  when 
she  was  eleven  years  of  age,  and  her  mistake  is  probably 
due  to  the  failure  of  memory  during  the  great  number  of 
years  that  elapsed  between  the  time  when  she  last  saw 
this  manuscript  and  the  date  of  her  affidavit.  This  would 
seem  to  show  that  as  early  as  1817  the  title,  "Manu- 
script Story,"  in  "faint  penciling,"  was  on  the  wrapper 
of  the  romance  from  Honolulu  and  that  it  was  probably 
placed  there  by  her  father  himself. 

Fifthly,  Mrs.  McKinstry  thinks  that  the  trunk  manu- 
script was  the  same  as  the  one  recognized  by  the  old 


THE  BOOK   OF   MORMON  93 

citizens  of  Conneaut  as  the  basis  of  the  Book  of  Mormon. 
We  shall  see,  presently,  that  in  this  she  is  mistaken. 

Although  the  letters  of  both  Mrs.  Davison  and  Mrs. 
McKinstry  contain  a  number  of  errors,  these  are  easily 
detected  by  the  facts  that  have  been  brought  to  light 
since  1884.  So,  culling  these  errors  out,  we  have  the  in- 
vulnerable facts  remaining  that  Solomon  Spaulding  wrote 
one  manuscript  in  Biblical  style  and  employed  names  that 
afterwards  appeared  in  the  Book  of  Mormon.  This  was 
his  celebrated  "Manuscript  Found." 


THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 


CHAPTER   VI. 

The  Manuscript  Found — Its  Identity  with  the  Book  of  Mormon 
Established — The  Testimony  of  John  Spaulding,  Martha 
Spaulding,  Henry  Lake,  John  N.  Miller,  Aaron  Wright, 
Oliver  Smith,  Nahum  Howard  and  Artemas  Cunningham. 

Having  established  the  distinction  between  the  manu- 
script discovered  in  Honolulu  and  the  "Manuscript 
Found,"  I  now  pass  to  those  evidences  which  go  to  iden- 
tify the  latter  with  the  basis  of  the  Book  of  Mormon. 
These  evidences  consist  of  the  testimonies  of  eleven  of 
the  relatives  and  acquaintances  of  Solomon  Spaulding, 
who  heard  him  read  his  celebrated  "Manuscript  Found." 
They  are  met  by  the  Mormons  either  with  silence,  with 
evasion  or  with  a  blustering  denial. 

The  opinion  of  some  of  those,  outside  of  Mormonism, 
who  have  made  the  matter  the  subject  of  special  study, 
is  that  Solomon  Spaulding  made  three  copies,  or  drafts, 
of  his  "Manuscript  Found,"  *  as  follows : 

1.  The  Nephite  copy.    This  copy  was  written  at  Con- 
neaut,  and  is  thought  to  have  contained  only  the  outline 
of  Nephite  history  as  given  in  the  Book  of  Mormon. 

2.  The  Zarahemlaite  copy.    This  copy  is  thought  to 
have  been  begun  at  Conneaut  and  completed  at  Pitts- 
burgh.   It  is  supposed  to  have  contained  all  that  was  in 
the  former  copy,  with  the  account  added  of  the  colony 
which  came  to  America  under  Mulek  at  the  time  of  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  Nebuchadnezzar. 

3.  The  Jaredite  copy.    This  copy  is  supposed  to  have 
been  written  at  Pittsburgh,  and  to  have  contained  all  that 


1  See  "Braden-Kelley  Debate,"  p.  75. 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  85 

was  in  the  preceding  copies,  with  the  Jaredite  portion  of 
the  Book  of  Mormon  added. 

I  must  confess  that  this  classification  of  the  writings 
of  Solomon  Spaulding  is  ingenious,  but  it  requires  the 
following  of  altogether  too  slender  lines  of  evidence  to  be 
very  trustworthy.  I  shall,  therefore,  make  no  attempt  to 
discriminate  between  the  different  copies,  or  drafts,  of 
the  "Manuscript  Found,"  if  such  really  existed,  as  some 
other  authors  have  done,  but  to  settle  down  to  the  easier 
task  of  showing  that  this  manuscript,  whether  it  orig- 
inally existed  in  one  or  in  three  drafts,  was  identical  with 
the  Book  of  Mormon  in  proper  names  and  general  his- 
torical outline.1 

In  order  to  accomplish  this,  I  shall  put  before  the 
reader,  in  this  chapter  and  in  the  following  chapter,  the 
testimonies  of  the  eleven  witnesses  referred  to,  who 
either  at  Conneaut  or  Amity  heard  the  "Manuscript 
Found"  read.  The  testimonies  of  the  eight  to  be  given 
in  this  chapter  were  first  published  in  Howe's  "Mormon- 
ism  Unveiled"  of  1834,*  and  constitute,  says  A.  T. 
Schroeder,  "the  most  important  single  collection  of  orig- 
inal evidence  ever  made  upon  the  subject." ' 

THE   TESTIMONY   OF   JOHN    SPAULDING. 

Solomon  Spaulding  was  born  in  Ashford,  Conn.,  in  1761, 
and  in  early  life  contracted  a  taste  for  literary  pursuits.  After 
he  left  school,  he  entered  Plainfield  Academy,  where  he  made 
great  proficiency  in  study,  and  excelled  most  of  his  classmates. 

1  Personally,  I  very  much  doubt  if  Spaulding  ever  wrote  more  than 
one  copy  of  his  "Manuscript  Found,"  though  this  may  have  been  written 
in  three  installments,  first  the  Nephite  part,  then  the  Zarahemlaite,  and 
lastly  the  Jaredite.  But  that  he  did  write  one  manuscript  at  least,  which 
gave  a  history  of  the  first  two  peoples,  is  beyond  question. 

*  Not  having  Howe's  book  at  hand,  I  have  copied  them  from  Bennett's 
"Mormonism  Exposed,"  pp.  115-120. 

8  "The  Origin  of  the  Book  of  Mormon,  Re-examined  in  Its  Relation  to 
Spaulding's  'Manuscript  Found,'  "  p.  40. 


96  THE   TRUE  ORIGIN  OF 

He  next  commenced  the  study  of  law,  in  Windham  county,  in 
which  he  made  little  progress,  having  in  the  meantime  turned 
his  attention  to  religious  subjects.  He  soon  after  entered  Dart- 
mouth College,  with  the  intention  of  qualifying  himself  for  the 
ministry,  where  he  obtained  the  degree  of  A.M.,  and  was  after- 
wards regularly  ordained.  After  preaching  three  or  four  years, 
he  gave  it  up,  removed  to  Cherry  Valley,  N.  Y.,  and  commenced 
the  mercantile  business,  in  company  with  his  brother  Josiah.  In 
a  few  years  he  failed  in  business,  and  in  the  year  1809  removed 
to  Conneaut,  in  Ohio.  The  year  following,  I  removed  to  Ohio, 
and  found  him  engaged  in  building  a  forge.  I  made  him  a  visit 
in  about  three  years  after,  and  found  that  he  had  failed,  and 
was  considerably  involved  in  debt.  He  then  told  me  he  had 
been  writing  a  book,  which  he  intended  to  have  printed,  the 
avails  of  which  he  thought  would  enable  him  to  pay  all  his  debts. 
The  book  was  entitled  the  "Manuscript  Found,"  of  which  he 
read  to  me  many  passages.  It  was  an  historical  romance  of  the 
first  settlers  of  America,  endeavoring  to  show  that  the  Ameri- 
can Indians  are  the  descendants  of  the  Jews,  or  the  lost  tribes. 
It  gave  a  detailed  account  of  their  journey  from  Jerusalem,  by 
land  and  sea,  till  they  arrived  in  America,  under  the  command 
of  Nephi  and  Lehi.  They  afterwards  had  quarrels  and  con- 
tentions, and  separated  into  two  distinct  nations,  one  of  which 
he  denominated  Nephites,  and  the  other  Lamanites.  Cruel  and 
bloody  wars  ensued,  in  which  great  multitudes  were  slain.  They 
buried  their  dead  in  large  heaps,  which  caused  the  mounds  so 
common  in  this  country.  Their  arts,  sciences  and  civilization 
were  brought  into  view  in  order  to  account  for  all  the  curious 
antiquities  found  in  various  parts  of  North  and  South  America. 
I  have  recently  read  the  Book  of  Mormon,  and  to  my  great 
surprise  I  find  it  nearly  the  same  historical  matter,  names, 
&c.,  as  they  were  in  my  brother's  writings.  I  well  remember 
that  he  wrote  in  the  old  style,  and  commenced  about  every 
sentence  with  "And  it  came  to  pass,"  or  "Now  it  came  to 
pass,"  the  same  as  in  the  Book  of  Mormon,  and  according 
to  the  best  of  my  recollection  and  belief,  it  is  the  same  as 
my  brother  Solomon  wrote,  with  the  exception  of  the  religious 
matter.  By  what  means  it  has  fallen  into  the  hands  of  Joseph 
Smith,  Jr.,  I  am  unable  to  determine. 

JOHN  SPAULDING. 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  97 


THE   TESTIMONY   OF    MARTHA   SPAULDING. 

I  was  personally  acquainted  with  Solomon  Spaulding,  about 
twenty  years  ago.  I  was  at  his  house  a  short  time  before  he 
left  Conneaut;  he  was  then  writing  an  historical  novel  founded 
upon  the  first  settlers  of  America.  He  represented  them  as  an 
enlightened  and  warlike  people.  He  had  for  many  years  con- 
tended that  the  aborigines  of  America  were  the  descendants  of 
some  of  the  lost  tribes  of  Israel,  and  this  idea  he  carried  out 
in  the  book  in  question.  The  lapse  of  time  which  has  inter- 
vened, prevents  my  recollecting  but  few  of  the  leading  incidents 
of  his  writings;  but  the  names  of  Nephi  and  Lehi  are  yet  fresh 
in  my  memory,  as  being  the  principal  heroes  of  his  tale.  They 
were  officers  of  the  company  which  first  came  off  from  Jeru- 
salem. He  gave  a  particular  account  of  their  journey  by  land 
and  sea,  till  they  arrived  in  America,  after  which  disputes  arose 
between  the  chiefs,  which  caused  them  to  separate  into  dif- 
ferent bands,  one  of  which  was  called  Lamanites,  and  the  other 
Nephites.  Between  these  were  recounted  tremendous  battles, 
which  frequently  covered  the  ground  with  the  slain;  and  their 
being  buried  in  large  heaps  was  the  cause  of  the  numerous 
mounds  in  the  country.  Some  of  these  people  he  represented  as 
being  very  large.  I  have  read  the  Book  of  Mormon,  which  has 
brought  fresh  to  my  recollection  the  writings  of  Solomon  Spaul- 
ding; and  I  have  no  manner  of  doubt  that  the  historical  part  of 
it  is  the  same  that  I  read  and  heard  read  more  than  twenty 
years  ago.  The  old,  obsolete  style,  and  the  phrases  of  "and  it 
came  to  pass,"  &c.,  are  the  same.  MARTHA  SPAULDING. 

THE  TESTIMONY  OF   HENRY   LAKE. 

CONNEAUT,  Ashtabula  Co.,  Ohio,  Sept.,  1833. 
I  left  the  State  of  New  York,  late  in  the  year  1810,  and  ar- 
rived at  this  place,  about  the  first  of  January  following.  Soon 
after  my  arrival,  I  formed  a  copartnership  with  Solomon  Spaul- 
ding, for  the  purpose  of  rebuilding  a  forge  which  he  had  com- 
menced a  year  or  two  before.  He  very  frequently  read  to  me 
from  a  manuscript  which  he  was  writing,  which  he  entitled  the 
"Manuscript  Found,"  and  which  he  represented  as  being  found 
in  this  town.  I  spent  many  hours  in  hearing  him  read  said 
writings,  and  became  well  acquainted  with  its  contents.  He 


98  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

wished  me  to  assist  him  in  getting  his  production  printed,  al- 
leging that  a  book  of  that  kind  would  meet  with  a  rapid  sale.  I 
designed  doing  so,  but  the  forge  not  meeting  our  anticipations, 
we  failed  in  business,  when  I  declined  having  anything  to  do 
with  the  publication  of  the  book.  This  book  represented  the 
American  Indians  as  the  descendants  of  the  lost  tribes,  gave  an 
account  of  their  leaving  Jerusalem,  their  contentions  and  wars, 
which  were  many  and  great.  One  time,  when  he  was  reading  to 
me  the  tragic  account  of  Laban,  I  pointed  out  to  him  what  I 
considered  an  inconsistency,  which  he  promised  to  correct;  but 
by  referring  to  the  Book  of  Mormon,  I  find,  to  my  surprise, 
that  it  stands  there  just  as  he  read  it  to  me  then.  Some  months 
ago,  I  borrowed  the  Golden  Bible,  put  it  into  my  pocket,  carried 
it  home,  and  thought  no  more  of  it.  About  a  week  after,  my 
wife  found  the  book  in  my  coat  pocket,  as  it  hung  up,  and  com- 
menced reading  it  aloud  as  I  lay  upon  the  bed.  She  had  not 
read  twenty  minutes,  till  I  was  astonished  to  find  the  same 
passages  in  it  that  Spaulding  had  read  to  me  more  than  twenty 
years  before,  from  his  "Manuscript  Found."  Since  that,  I  have 
more  fully  examined  the  said  Golden  Bible,  and  have  no 
hesitation  in  saying  that  the  historical  part  of  it  is  principally,  if 
not  wholly,  taken  from  the  "Manuscript  Found. '  I  well  recol- 
lect telling  Mr.  Spaulding  that  the  so  frequent  use  of  the  words 
"And  it  came  to  pass,"  "Now  it  came  to  pass,"  rendered  it 
ridiculous.  Spaulding  left  here  in  1812,  and  I  furnished  him  the 
means  to  carry  him  to  Pittsburgh,  where  he  said  he  would  get 
the  book  printed  and  pay  me.  But  I  never  heard  any  more  from 
him  or  his  writings,  till  I  saw  them  in  the  Book  of  Mormon. 

HENRY  LAKE. 

THE  TESTIMONY   OF   JOHN    N.    MILLER. 

SPRINGFIELD,  Pa.,  September,  1833. 

In  the  year  1811,  I  was  in  the  employ  of  Henry  Lake  and 
Solomon  Spaulding,  at  Conneaut,  engaged  in  rebuilding  a  forge. 
While  there,  I  boarded  and  lodged  in  the  family  of  said  Spaul- 
ding for  several  months.  I  was  soon  introduced  to  the  manu- 
scripts of  Spaulding,  and  perused  them  as  often  as  I  had  leisure. 
He  had  written  two  or  three  books  or  pamphlets  on  different 
subjects;  but  that  which  more  particularly  drew  my  attention 
was  one  which  he  called  the  "Manuscript  Found."  From  this 


THE  BOOK   OF   MORMON  9» 

he  would  frequently  read  some  humorous  passages  to  the  com- 
pany present.  It  purported  to  be  the  history  of  the  first  settle- 
ment of  America,  before  discovered  by  Columbus.  He  brought 
them  off  from  Jerusalem,  under  their  leaders;  detailing  their 
travels  by  land  and  water,  their  manners,  customs,  laws,  wars, 
&c.  He  said  that  he  designed  it  as  an  historical  novel,  and  that 
in  after  years  it  would  be  believed  by  many  people  as  much  as 
the  history  of  England.  He  soon  after  failed  in  business,  and 
told  me  he  would  retire  from  the  din  of  his  creditors,  finish  his 
book  and  have  it  published,  which  would  enable  him  to  pay  his 
debts  and  support  his  family.  He  soon  after  removed  to  Pitts- 
burgh, as  I  understood. 

I  have  recently  examined  the  Book  of  Mormon,  and  find  in 
it  the  writings  of  Solomon  Spaulding,  from  beginning  to  end, 
but  mixed  up  with  Scripture  and  other  religious  matter,  which 
I  did  not  meet  with  in  the  "Manuscript  Found."  Many  of  the 
passages  in  the  Mormon  book  are  verbatim  from  Spaulding,  and 
others  in  part.  The  names  of  Nephi,  Lehi,  Moroni,  and  :n  fact 
all  the  principal  names,  are  brought  fresh  to  my  recollection  by 
the  Golden  Bible.  When  Spaulding  divested  1.1s  history  of  its 
fabulous  names,  by  a  verbal  explanation,  he  landed  Lis  people 
near  the  Straits  of  Darien,  which  I  am  very  confident  Le  called 
Zarahemla;  they  were  marched  about  that  country  for  a  length 
of  time,  in  which  wars  and  great  bloodshed  ensued;  he  brought 
them  across  North  America  in  a  northeast  direction. 

JOHN  N.  MILLER. 

THE  TESTIMONY  OF  AARON   WRIGHT. 

CONNEAUT,   AugUSt,    1833. 

I  first  became  acquainted  with  Solomon  Spaulding  in  1808 
or  '9,  when  he  commenced  building  a  forge  on  Conneaut  Creek. 
When  at  his  house,  one  day,  he  showed  and  read  to  me  a  history 
he  was  writing,  of  the  lost  tribes  of  Israel,  purporting  that  they 
were  the  first  settlers  of  America,  and  that  the  Indians  were 
their  descendants.  Upon  this  subject  we  had  frequent  conver- 
sations. He  traced  their  journey  from  Jerusalem  ta  America, 
as  it  is  given  in  the  Book  of  Mormon,  excepting  the  religious 
matter.  The  historical  part  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  I  know  to 
be  the  same  as  I  read  and  heard  read  from  the  writings  of 
Spaulding,  more  than  twenty  years  ago;  the  names,  more  espe- 


100  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

cially,  are  the  same  without  any  alteration.  He  told  me  his 
object  was  to  account  for  all  the  fortifications,  &c.,  to  be  found 
in  this  country,  and  said  that  in  time  it  would  be  fully  believed 
by  all,  except  learned  men  and  historians.  I  once  anticipated 
reading  his  writings  in  print,  but  little  expected  to  see  them  in 
a  new  Bible.  Spaulding  had  many  other  manuscripts,  which  I 
expect  to  see  when  Smith  translates  his  other  plate.  In  con- 
clusion, I  will  observe,  that  the  names  of,  and  most  of  the  his- 
torical part  of  the  Book  of  Mormon,  were  as  familiar  to  me 
before  I  read  it,  as  most  modern  history.  If  it  is  not  Spaulding's 
writing,  it  is  the  same  as  he  wrote ;  and  if  Smith  was  inspired,  I 
think  it  was  by  the  same  spirit  that  Spaulding  was,  which  he 
confessed  to  be  the  love  of  money.  AARON  WRIGHT. 

THE  TESTIMONY  OF  OLIVER   SMITH. 

CONNEAUT,  AugUSt,   1833. 

When  Solomon  Spaulding  first  came  to  this  place,  he  pur- 
chased a  tract  of  land,  surveyed  it  out,  and  commenced  selling 
it.  While  engaged  in  this  business,  he  boarded  at  my  house,  in 
all  nearly  six  months.  All  his  leisure  hours  were  occupied  in 
writing  an  historical  novel,  founded  upon  the  first  settlers  of 
this  country.  He  said  he  intended  to  trace  their  journey  from 
Jerusalem,  by  land  and  sea,  till  their  arrival  in  America;  give 
an  account  of  their  arts,  sciences,  civilization,  wars,  and  con- 
tentions. In  this  way,  he  would  give  a  satisfactory  account  of 
all  of  the  old  mounds  so  common  to  this  country.  During  the 
time  he  was  at  my  house,  I  read  and  heard  read  one  hundred 
pages  or  more.  Nephi  and  Lehi  were  by  him  represented  as 
leading  characters,  when  they  first  started  for  America.  Their 
main  object  was  to  escape  the  judgments  which  they  supposed 
were  coming  upon  the  old  world.  But  no  religious  matter  was 
introduced  as  I  now  recollect.  Just  before  he  left  this  place, 
Spaulding  sent  for  me  to  call  on  him,  which  I  did.  He  then 
said  that  although  he  was  in  my  debt,  he  intended  to  leave  the 
country,  and  hoped  I  would  not  prevent  him.  For,  says  he,  you 
know  I  have  been  writing  the  history  of  the  first  settlement 
of  America,  and  I  intend  to  go  to  Pittsburgh,  and  there  live  a 
retired  life,  till  I  have  completed  the  work,  and  when  it  is 
printed,  it  will  bring  me  a  fine  sum  of  money,  which  will  enable 
me  to  return  and  pay  off  all  my  debts.  The  book,  you  know, 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  101 

will  sell,  as  every  one  is  anxious  to  learn  something  upon  that 
subject.  This  was  the  last  I  heard  of  Spaulding  or  his  book, 
until  the  Book  of  Mormon  came  into  the  neighborhood.  When 
I  heard  the  historical  part  of  it  related,  I  at  once  said  it  was 
the  writings  of  old  Solomon  Spaulding.  Soon  after,  I  obtained 
the  book,  and  on  reading  it,  found  much  of  it  the  same  as 
Spaulding  had  written,  more  than  twenty  years  before. 

OLIVER  SMITH. 

THE   TESTIMONY   OF   NAHUM    HOWARD. 

CONNEAUT,  AugUSt,   1833. 

I  first  became  acquainted  with  Solomon  Spaulding,  in  Decem- 
ber, 1810.  After  that  time,  I  frequently  saw  him  at  his  house, 
and  also  at  my  house.  I  once,  in  conversation  with  him,  ex- 
pressed a  surprise  at  not  having  any  account  of  the  inhabitants 
once  in  this  country,  who  erected  the  old  forts,  mounds,  &c. 
He  then  told  me  that  he  was  writing  a  history  of  that  race  of 
people;  and  afterwards  frequently  showed  me  his  writings, 
which  I  read.  I  have  lately  read  the  Book  of  Mormon,  and  be- 
lieve it  to  be  the  same  as  Spaulding  wrote,  except  the  religious 
part.  He  told  me  that  he  intended  to  get  his  writings  published 
in  Pittsburgh,  and  he  thought  that  in  one  century  from  that  time, 
it  would  be  believed  as  much  as  any  other  history. 

NAHUM  HOWARD. 

THE   TESTIMONY  OF   ARTEMAS   CUNNINGHAM. 

In  the  month  of  October,  1811,  I  went  from  the  township  of 
Madison  to  Conneaut,  for  the  purpose  of  securing  a  debt  due 
me  from  Solomon  Spaulding,  I  tarried  with  him  nearly  two 
days,  for  the  purpose  of  accomplishing  my  object,  which  I  was 
finally  unable  to  do.  I  found  him  destitute  of  the  means  of 
paying  his  debts.  His  only  hope  of  ever  paying  his  debts  ap- 
peared to  be  upon  the  sale  of  a  book  which  he  had  been  writing. 
He  endeavored  to  convince  me  from  the  nature  and  character 
of  the  work,  that  it  would  meet  with  a  ready  sale.  Before  show- 
ing me  his  manuscripts,  he  went  into  a  verbal  relation  of  its 
outlines,  saying  that  it  was  a  fabulous  or  romantic  history  of  the 
first  settlement  of  this  country,  and  as  it  purported  to  have  been 
a  record  found  buried  in  the  earth,  or  in  a  cave,  he  had  adopted 
the  ancient  or  Scripture  style  of  writing.  He  then  presented  his 


102  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

manuscripts,  when  we  sat  down,  and  spent  a  good  share  of  the 
night  in  reading  them,  and  conversing  upon  them.  I  well  re- 
member the  name  of  Nephi,  which  appeared  to  be  the  principal 
hero  of  the  story.  The  frequent  repetition  of  the  phrase,  "I 
Nephi,"  I  recollect  as  distinctly  as  though  it  was  but  yesterday, 
although  the  general  features  of  the  story  have  passed  from  my 
memory,  through  the  lapse  of  twenty-two  years.  He  attempted 
to  account  for  the  numerous  antiquities  which  are  found  upon 
this  continent,  and  remarked  that,  after  this  generation  had 
passed  away,  his  account  of  the  first  inhabitants  of  America 
would  be  considered  as  authentic  as  any  other  history.  The 
Mormon  Bible  I  have  partially  examined,  and  am  fully  of  the 
opinion  that  Solomon  Spaulding  had  written  its  outlines  before 
he  left  Conneaut. 

This  completes  the  original  testimony  on  the  "Manu- 
script Found"  as  given  by  E.  D.  Howe  in  1834.  By  it 
the  following  points  are  established : 

First,  Solomon  Spaulding  wrote  several  manuscripts 
which  he  was  fond  of  exhibiting  to  his  acquaintances. 

Secondly,  one  of  these  manuscripts,  and  the  most  im- 
portant of  them,  bore  the  title  of  the  "Manuscript 
Found." 

Thirdly,  this  manuscript  agreed  with  the  Book  of 
Mormon  in  its  general  historical  outline  and  proper 
names,  it  containing  such  proper  names  as  Lehi,  Nephi, 
Nephites,  Lamanites,  Laban,  Zarahemla  and  Moroni. 

Fourthly,  it  was  also  written  in  Scripture  style,  and 
began  nearly  every  paragraph  with  "And  it  came  to  pass" 
and  "Now  it  came  to  pass."  It  could  not,  therefore, 
have  been  identical  with  the  manuscript  found  in  Hono- 
lulu, which  does  not  contain  these  introductory  expres- 
sions. 

Fifthly,  the  "Manuscript  Found"  was  devoid  of  the 
religious  matter  found  in  the  Book  of  Mormon,  hence 
this  must  have  been  added  later,  presumably  by  Rigdon. 
Are  these  coincidences  purely  accidental? 


THE  BOOK   OF   MORMON  103 


CHAPTER    VII. 

The  Testimony  of  Other  Witnesses — Joseph  Miller — Ruddick 
McKee — Abner  Jackson — The  Mormon  Admissions  of  Gen- 
uineness— The  Disclosures  of  J.  C.  Bennett. 

Since  1834,  other  witnesses  have  borne  testimony  to 
the  close  resemblance  of  the  "Manuscript  Found"  to  the 
Book  of  Mormon,  even  as  touching  certain  details. 

THE   TESTIMONY   OF   JOSEPH    MILLER. 

Joseph  Miller  was  a  resident  of  Amity,  Pennsylvania, 
and  a  particular  friend  of  Solomon  Spaulding  while  he 
resided  at  that  place.  In  a  letter  to  Thomas  Gregg,1  he 
says: 

TEN  MILE,  Washington  Co.,  Pa.,  Jan.  20,  1882. 
DEAR  SIR: — In  answer  to  yours,  I  would  state  that  I  was 
familiar  with  Solomon  Spaulding.  I  worked  in  Amity,  where  he 
lived,  and  as  the  fashion  was  at  that  day,  we  all  assembled  at 
his  house  in  the  evenings  (as  he  kept  tavern),  and  he  frequently 
would  read  from  his  manuscript.  The  work  was  very  odd.  The 
words  "Moreover,"  "And  it  came  to  pass,"  occurred  so  often 
that  the  boys  about  the  village  called  him  "Old  Came  to  Pass." 
He  told  me  he  lived  in  Ohio  when  he  wrote  his  manuscript. 
He  said  he  lost  his  health,  and  he  commenced  writing  a  history 
of  the  mounds  near  where  he  lived,  or  of  the  people  who  built 
them.  He  afterwards  removed  to  Pittsburgh,  and  kept  a  little 
store  to  support  his  family,  and  while  there  he  took  his  manu- 
script to  Mr.  Patterson,  then  engaged  in  a  publishing  house. 
Mr.  Patterson  told  him  if  he  would  write  a  title  page  he  would 
publish  it.  He  left  the  copy  and  moved  to  Amity.  He  after- 
wards went  back  to  have  his  MS.  published,  but  it  could  not  be 
found.  He  said  there  was  a  man  named  Sidney  Rigdon  about 
the  office,  and  they  thought  he  had  stolen  it.  The  passage  you 

1  "Prophet  of  Palmyra,"  pp.  441,  442. 
(8) 


104  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OP 

refer  to,  on  page  148,  as  Cooper  has  it,  is  in  reference  to  being 
marked  with  red  in  their  foreheads. 

"Nephites,"  I  recollect  distinctly,  as  occurring  very  often; 
as  to  "Lamanites"  it  is  not  so  distinct, — and  a  great  many  other 
names  that  were  very  odd. 

The  MS.  that  I  saw,  would  not,  I  think,  make  as  large  a 
book  as  the  Book  of  Mormon. 

Spaulding  was  a  very  poor  man ;  during  his  stay  at  Amity,  I 
was  very  familiar  with  him,  bailed  him  for  money  at  least  twice ; 
and  by  request  of  Spaulding,  assisted  his  wife  some  in  settling 
up  his  little  business — made  his  coffin  and  helped  lay  him  in 
his  grave.  JOSEPH  MILLER. 

In  the  Pittsburgh  Telegraph  of  February  6,  1879,  we 
find  the  following  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Miller: 

Mr.  Spaulding  seemed  to  take  great  delight  in  reading  from 
his  manuscript  written  on  foolscap.  I  heard  him  read  most  if 
not  all  of  it;  and  had  frequent  conversations  with  him  about  it. 
Some  time  ago  I  heard  most  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  read.  On 
hearing  read  the  account  of  the  battle  between  the  Amlicites 
and  the  Nephites  (Book  of  Alma,  chapter  II.),  in  which  the 
soldiers  of  one  army  placed  a  red  mark  on  their  foreheads,  to 
distinguish  them  from  their  enemies,  it  seemed  to  reproduce  in 
my  mind  not  only  the  narrative,  but  the  very  words,  as  they  had 
been  imprinted  on  my  mind  by  reading  Spaulding's  manuscript.1 

THE   TESTIMONY   OF   RUDDICK    M'KEE. 

In  the  Washington  (Pennsylvania)  Reporter  for 
April  21,  1879,  Ruddick"  McKee,  of  Washington,  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia,  said  in  regard  to  Spaulding  and  his 
romance : 

In  the  fall  of  1814  I  arrived  in  the  village  of  "Good  WS1P 
and  for  eighteen  or  twenty  months  sold  goods  in  the  store  pre- 
viously occupied  by  Mr.  Thos.  Brice.  It  was  on  Main  street,  a 
few  doors  west  of  Spaulding's  Tavern,  where  I  was  a  boarder. 
With  both  Mr.  Solomon  Spaulding  and  his  wife  I  was  quite  in- 

1  "Braden-Kelley  Debate,"  p.  42. 
•Sometimes  spelled  Redick. 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  105 

timately  acquainted.  I  recollect  quite  well  Mr.  Spaulding  spend- 
ing much  time  in  writing  (on  sheets  of  paper  torn  out  of  an  old 
book)  what  purported  to  be  a  veritable  history  of  the  nations 
or  tribes  who  inhabited  Canaan.  He  called  it  "Lost  History 
Found,"  "Lost  Manuscript,"  or  some  such  name,  not  disguising 
that  it  was  wholly  a  work  of  the  imagination,  written  to  amuse 
himself  and  without  any  immediate  view  to  publication.  I  was 
struck  with  the  minuteness  of  his  details  and  the  apparent  truth- 
fulness and  sincerity  of  the  author.  I  have  an  indistinct  recol- 
lection of  the  passage  referred  to  by  Mr.  Miller  about  the 
Amlicites  making  a  cross  with  red  paint  on  their  foreheads  to 
distinguish  them  from  enemies  in  the  confusion  of  battle.1 

THE   TESTIMONY   OF   ABNER   JACKSON. 

The  evidence  that  I  have  already  given  is  sufficient  to 
establish  the  plagiarism,  but  I  introduce  one  more  testi- 
mony. The  following  statement  of  Rev.  Abner  Jackson, 
of  Canton,  Ohio,  was  communicated  to  the  Washington 
County  (Pennsylvania)  Historical  Society,  December  20, 
1880 ': 

It  is  a  fact  well  established  that  the  book  called  the  Book  of 
Mormon,  had  its  origin  from  a  romance  that  was  written  by 
Solomon  Spaulding,  in  Conneaut,  a  small  village  in  Ashtabula 
County,  Ohio,  about  A.  D.  1812.  Spaulding  was  a  highly  edu- 
cated man  about  six  feet  high,  of  rather  slender  build,  with  a 
dark  complexion,  black  eyes,  black  hair,  rather  slow  of  speech, 
never  trifling,  pleasant  in  conversation,  but  seldom  laughing 
aloud.  His  deportment  was  grave  and  dignified  in  society,  and 
he  was  much  respected  by  those  of  his  acquaintance.  He  was 
a  clergyman  of  the  Presbyterian  order,  and  for  a  time  a  settled 
pastor  in  the  city  of  New  York.  So  said  his  brother  John 
Spaulding  and  others  in  the  neighborhood,  who  heard  him  preach. 
It  was  said  that  failing  health  caused  him  to  resign  the  pastorate. 
He  then  came  to  Richfield,  Otsego  County,  New  York,  and 
started  a  store,  near  wher?  my  f other  lived,  about  the  beginning 
of  the  present  century. 

1  Schroeder,  p.  46. 

•"Prophet  of  Palmyra,"   pp.  444-450. 


106  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

Spaulding  contracted  for  large  tracts  of  land  along  the 
shore  of  Lake  Erie,  on  each  side  of  the  state  line,  in  both  Penn- 
sylvania and  Ohio.  My  father  exchanged  with  him,  the  farm 
on  which  he  lived  in  Otsego  County,  New  York,  for  land  in 
Erie  County,  Pa.,  where  the  town  of  Albion  now  stands,  and 
moved  on  it  A.  D.  1805.  It  was  then  a  dense  forest.  Shortly 
after  my  father  moved,  Spaulding  sold  his  store  in  Richfield, 
and  moved  to  Conneaut,  Ashtabula  County,  Ohio,  and  built  a 
forge  on  Conneaut  Creek,  two  miles  from  Conneaut  Harbor, 
and  two  miles  from  the  state  line.  In  building  this  he  failed, 
sold  out,  and  about  the  beginning  of  the  year  1812,  com- 
menced to  write  his  famous  romance  called  by  him  the  Manu- 
script Found. 

This  romance,  Mr.  Spaulding  brought  with  him  on  a  visit  to 
my  father,  a  short  time  before  he  moved  from  Conneaut  to  Pitts- 
burgh. At  that  time  I  was  confined  to  the  house  with  a  lame 
knee,  and  so  I  was  in  company  with  them  and  heard  the  conver- 
sation that  passed  between  them.  Spaulding  read  much  of  his 
manuscript  to  my  father,  and  in  conversation  with  him,  ex- 
plained his  views  of  the  old  fortifications  in  this  country,  and 
told  his  romance.  A  note  in  Morse's  Geography  suggested  it  as 
a  possibility  that  our  Indians  were  descendents  of  the  lost  tribes 
of  Israel.  Said  Morse,  they  might  have  wandered  through  Asia 
up  to  Behring's  Strait,  and  across  the  strait  to  this  continent. 
Besides  there  were  habits  and  ceremonies  among  them  that  re- 
sembled some  habits  and  ceremonies  among  the  Israelites  of 
that  day.  Then  the  old  fortifications  and  earth  mounds,  con- 
taining so  many  kinds  of  relics  and  human  bones,  and  some  of 
them  so  large,  altogether  convinced  him  that  they  were  a  larger 
race  and  more  enlightened  and  civilized  than  are  found  among 
the  Indians  among  us  at  this  day.  These  facts  and  reflections 
prompted  him  to  write  his  Romance,  purporting  to  be  a  history 
of  the  lost  tribes  of  Israel. 

He  begins  with  their  departure  from  Palestine,  or  Judea, 
then  up  through  Asia,1  points  out  their  exposures,  hardships  and 
sufferings,  also  their  disputes  and  quarrels,  especially  when  they 
built  their  craft  for  passing  over  the  straits.  Then  after  their 


1  If  Spaulding's  "Manuscript  Found"  gave  this  migrational  direction, 
the  account  was  afterwards  changed,  because  the  Book  of  Mormon  ha* 
them  come  across  the  Pacific  Ocean  to  South  America. 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  107 

landing,  he  gave  an  account  of  their  divisions  and  subdivisions 
under  different  leaders,  but  two  parties  controlled  the  balance. 
One  of  them  was  called  the  righteous,  worshipers  and  servants 
of  God.  These  organized  with  prophets,  priests  and  teachers, 
for  the  education  of  their  children,  and  settled  down  to  culti- 
vate the  soil,  and  to  a  life  of  civilization.  The  others  were  idol- 
aters. They  contended  for  a  life  of  idleness;  in  short,  a  wild, 
wicked,  savage  life. 

They  soon  quarreled,  and  then  commenced  war  anew,  and 
continued  to  fight,  except  at  very  short  intervals.  Sometimes 
one  party  was  successful  and  sometimes  the  other,  until  finally 
a  terrible  battle  was  fought,  which  was  conclusive.  All  the 
righteous  were  slain,  except  one,  and  he  was  Chief  Prophet  and 
Recorder.  He  was  notified  of  the  defeat  in  time  by  Divine 
authority;  told  where,  when  and  how  to  conceal  the  record,  and 
He  would  take  care  that  it  should  be  preserved,  and  brought  to 
light  again  at  the  proper  time,  for  the  benefit  of  mankind.  So 
the  Recorder  professed  to  do,  and  then  submitted  to  his  fate.  I 
do  not  remember  what  that  fate  was.  He  was  left  alone  of 
his  party.  I  do  not  remember  that  anything  more  was  said  of 
him. 

Spaulding's  romance  professed  to  find  the  record  where  the 
Recorder  concealed  it,  in  one  of  those  mounds,  one  of  which 
was  but  a  few  rods  from  Spaulding's  residence.  Soon  after  this 
visit,  Spaulding  moved  to  Pittsburgh,  and  took  his  manuscript 
to  the  Pittsburgh  Gazette  office,  intending  to  have  it  printed,  but 
in  this  he  failed.  My  brother,  J.  J.  Jackson,  was  a  recruiting 
officer  in  the  U.  S.  Army,  and  stationed  at  Pittsburgh  at  that 
time.  Being  well  acquainted  with  Spaulding  and  his  lady,  he 
soon  found  them,  and  in  his  letters  home  would  inform  us  how 
they  were  getting  along.  The  last  account  he  gave  us  of  them 
was  that  he  was  selling  pictures  and  she  was  sewing  up  clothing 
for  the  soldiers.  The  next  we  heard  of  them  was  by  report. 
Spaulding  moved  to  Amity,  Washington  County,  Pa.,  and  soon 
after  died  and  was  buried  there.  His  wife  and  daughter  went 
to  her  brother,  Lawyer  Sabine,  Onondaga  Valley,  Onondaga  Co., 
N.  Y.  When  I  was  returning  from  Clarksburg,  W.  Va.,  to  my 
home  in  New  Brighton,  Beaver  Co.,  Pa.,  A.  D.  1840,  I  passed 
through  Amity,  hunted  the  grave  of  Spaulding  and  copied  from 
the  headstone  the  following  inscription: 


108  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN  OP 

"IN  MEMORY  OF 

Solomon  Spaulcling,  who  departed  this  life  Oct.  2oth,  A.  D.,  1816. 
Aged  ss  years. 

"Kind  cherubs  guard  the  sleeping  clay, 

Until  the  great  decision  day, 

And  saints  complete  in  glory  rise, 

To  share  the  triumph  of  the  skies." 

Spaulding  frequently  read  his  manuscript  to  the  neighbors 
and  amused  them  as  he  progressed  with  his  work.  He  wrote  it 
in  Bible  style.  "And  it  came  to  pass"  occurred  so  often  that 
some  called  him  "Old  Come  to  Pass." 

So  much  for  Spaulding's  romance;  now  for  the  Book  of 
Mormon. 

The  first  account  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  that  i  saw,  was  a 
notice  in  my  father's  newspaper,  stating  that  Joseph  Smith,  Jr., 
professed  having  dreamed  that  an  angel  had  appeared  to  him 
and  told  him  to  go  and  search  in  a  place  he  named  in  Palmyra, 
N.  Y.,  and  he  would  find  a  gold-leaf  Bible.  Smith  was  incred- 
ulous and  did  not  go  until  the  second  or  third  time  he  dreamed 
the  same  dream.  Then  he  said  he  went,  and,  to  his  surprise,  he 
found  the  golden  Bible,  according  to  his  dreams.  But  it  was 
written  in  a  language  so  ancient  that  none  could  be  found  able 
either  to  read  it  or  tell  in  what  language  it  \vr.s  written.  Some 
time  after,  another  statement  appeared  that  an  angel  had  con- 
sented to  read  and  interpret  it  to  Joseph  Smith,  and  he  should 
report  it  to  a  third  person,  who  should  write  it  in  plain  English, 
so  that  all  might  read  the  new  Bible  and  understand  its  import. 
Some  time  after,  in  1830,  the  book  was  published  at  Palmyra, 
N.  Y.,  called  a  New  Revelation;  the  Book  of  Mormon.  This 
purports  to  be  a  history  of  the  lost  tribes  of  the  Children  of  Is- 
rael. It  begins  with  them  just  where  the  romance  did,  and  it 
follows  the  romance  very  closely.  It  is  true  there  are  some 
verbal  alterations  and  additions,  enlarging  the  production  some- 
what, without  changing  its  main  features.  The  Book  of  Mormon 
follows  the  romance  too  closely  to  be  a  stranger.  In  both  many 
persons  appear  havinr  the  same  name;  as,  Maroni,  Mormon, 
Nephites,  Moroni,  Lama,  Lamanite,  Nephe  and  others. 

Here  then  we  are  presented  with  romance  second,  called  the 
Book  of  Mormon,  telling  the  same  story  of  the  same  people, 
traveling  from  the  same  plain,  in  the  same  way,  having  the  same 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  109 

difficulties  and  destination,  with  the  same  wars,  same  battles  and 
same  results,  with  thousands  upon  thousands  slain.  Then  see 
the  Mormon  account  of  the  last  battle  at  Cumorah,  where  all 
the  righteous  were  slain.  They  were  called  the  Nephites,  the 
others  were  called  Lamanites  (see  Moroni's  account  of  the 
closing  scene),  "and  now  it  came  to  pass  that  a  great  battle  was 
fought  at  Cumorah.  The  Lamanites  slew  all  the  Nephites  (ex- 
cept Moroni),  and  he  said,  I  will  write  and  hide  up  the  Record 
in  the  earth,  and  whither  I  go,  it  mattereth  not." — Book  of 
Mormon,  page  344,  third  American  edition.1  How  much  this 
resembles  the  closing  scene  in  the  Manuscript  Found.  The  most 
singular  part  of  the  whole  matter  is,  that  it  follows  the  romance 
so  closely,  with  this  difference :  the  first  claims  to  be  a  romance ; 
the  second  claims  to  be  a  revelation  of  God,  a  new  Bible !  When 
it  was  brought  to  Conneaut  and  read  there  in  public,  old  Esq. 
Wright  heard  it,  and  exclaimed,  "Old  Come  to  Pass  has  come 
to  life  again."  Here  was  the  place  where  Spaulding  wrote  and 
read  his  manuscript  to  the  neighbors  for  their  amusement  and 
'Squire  Wright  had  often  heard  him  read  his  romance.  This 
was  in  1832,  sixteen  years  after  Spaulding'c  death.  This  'Squire 
Wright  lived  on  c,  farm  just  outside  of  the  little  village.  I  was 
acquainted  with  him  for  twenty-five  years.  I  lived  on  his  farm 
when  I  was  a  boy  and  attended  school  in  the  village.  I  am  par- 
ticular to  notice  these  things  to  show  that  I  had  an  opportunity 
of  knowing  what  I  am  writing  about. 

After  I  commenced  writing  this  article,  I  heard  that  an 
article  in  Scribner's  Monthly,  for  August,  1880,  on  the  Book  of 
Mormon,  contained  a  note  and  affidavit  of  Mrs.  Matilda  S.  Mc- 
Kinstry,  Solomon  Spaulding's  only  child,  stating  that  she  re- 
membered her  father's  romance.  I  sent  at  once  for  the  Monthly, 
and  on  the  613,  614,  615  and  616  pages,  found  the  article  and 
her  testimony.  Her  statement  from  the  commencement,  until 
they  moved  to  Pittsburgh,  in  all  essential  particulars  I  know  to 
be  true.  She  relates  those  acts  as  they  occurred  to  my  own 
personal  knowledge,  though  she  was  then  a  little  girl.  She  is 
now  about  seventy-five  years  of  age. 

I  stated  before  that  I  knew  nothing  of  Spaulding  after  he 
moved  to  Pittsburgh,  except  by  letters  and  newspapers.  He 
soon  moved  to  Amity,  Washington  County,  Pa.,  and  shortly 

1  This  is  not  an  exact  quotation. 


110  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

after  this  he  died  and  his  wife  went  to  her  brother's.  His 
daughter's  account  of  the  deceitful  method  by  which  Hurlburt 
gained  possession  of  and  retained  Spaulding's  manuscript,  is,  I 
think,  important  and  should  not  be  lost  sight  of.  She  was  no 
child  then.  I  think  she  has  done  her  part  well  in  the  vindi- 
cation of  the  truth  by  her  unvarnished  statement  of  what  she 
remembered  of  her  father's  romance.  I  have  not  seen  her  since 
she  was  a  little  girl,  but  I  have  seen  both  of  these  productions, 
heard  Spaulding  read  much  of  his  romance  to  my  father  and 
explain  his  views  and  reasons  for  writing  it.  I  also  have  seen 
and  read  the  Book  of  Mormon,  and  it  follows  Spaulding's 
romance  too  closely  to  Le  anything  else  than  a  borrowed  pro- 
duction from  the  romance.  I  think  that  Mrs.  McKinstry's  state- 
ment fills  a  gap  in  my  account  from  Spaulding's  removal  to  Pitts- 
burgh, to  the  death  of  his  wife  in  1844.  I  wish,  if  my  statement 
is  published  that  hers  also  be  published., with  it,  that  the  truth 
may  be  vindicated  by  the  truth  beyond  any  reasonable  doubt. 

(Signed)  ABNER  JACKSON. 
CANTON,  Ohio,  Dec.  20,  1880. 

THE    MORMON   ADMISSIONS   OF   GENUINENESS. 

While  the  Mormons  deny  the  truthfulness  of  the 
testimony  in  this  and  the  preceding  chapter,  they  con- 
cede its  genuineness.1  As  proof  of  this,  I  submit  the 
following  extract  from  the  pen  of  Elder  Brigham  H. 
Roberts,  of  the  Utah  Mormon  Church,  taken  from  the 
"Young  Men's  Mutual  Improvement  Associations  Man- 
ual" for  1905-1906,  pages  465  and  466: 

In  the  fall  of  1833,  a  number  of  affidavits  were  taken  from 
the  former  neighbors  and  friends  of  Solomon  Spaulding,  and 
one  was  given  by  his  brother,  John  Spaulding,  and  one  by  the 
latter's  wife,  Martha  Spaulding.  They  at  the  time  were  residing 
in  Crawford,  Pennsylvania,  and  both  testified  that  they  had 
"recently  read  the  Book  of  Mormon,"  and  recognized  in  it  the 
general  outlines  of  Solomon  Spaulding's  story,  claimed  especially 

1  By  the  genuineness  of  these  testimonies,  I  mean  that  they  were 
actually  made  and  subscribed  to  by  the  parties  to  whom  they  are  ac- 
credited. 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  111 

to  remember  the  names  "Nephi  and  Lehi;"  the  words  "Nephites 
and  Lamanites;"  as  also  the  ancient  scriptural  style  and  the 
frequent  use  of  the  phrase  "and  it  came  to  pass;"  and  that  the 
American  Indians  are  descendents  of  the  Jews,  or  "lost  tribes 
of  Israel." 

Mr.  Henry  Lake,  an  associate  in  business  with  Mr.  Spaulding, 
living  at  Conneaut  in  the  fall  of  1833,  in  connection  with  others 
that  will  be  named,  living  in  the  same  neighborhood,  testified 
that  Solomon  Spaulding  read  to  him  from  the  "Manuscript 
Found;"  that  it  represented  the  American  Indians  as  the  de- 
scendants of  the  "lost  tribes"  of  Israel,  and  that  he  suggested 
to  Mr.  Spaulding  that  the  frequent  use  of  the  phrase  "and  it 
came  to  pass"  rendered  the  book  ridiculous. 

John  N.  Miller  testified  substantially  to  the  same  things  say- 
ing in  addition  that  Spaulding's  story  landed  his  colony  near  the 
"Straits  of  Darien,"  which  he  was  confident  he  called  "Zara- 
hemla." 

Aaron  Wright  testified  substantially  to  the  same  things  as 
the  foregoing.  That  the  American  Indians,  according  to  Spaul- 
ding's story,  were  descendants  of  the  "lost  tribes"  of  Israel,  and 
claims  especially  that  the  historical  part  of  the  Book  of  Mormon 
is  substantially  what  he  heard  read  from  the  "Manuscript  Found" 
though  he  excepts  out  of  the  work,  as  not  being  Spaulding's,  the 
religious  matter. 

Oliver  Smith  testified  substantially  to  the  same  things,  say- 
ing in  effect  that  on  reading  the  Book  of  Mormon  he  at  once 
recognized  it  as  the  writings  of  Solomon  Spaulding. 

Nahum  Howard  testified  that  he  had  recently  read  the  Book 
of  Mormon  and  believed  that  all  but  the  religious  part  of  it  was 
the  same  as  that  written  by  Spaulding. 

Artemas  Cunningham,  living  in  Perry,  Geauga  county,  Ohio, 
testified  that  in  1811  he  waited  upon  Solomon  Spaulding  at  his 
home  in  New  Salem,  to  collect  debts,  and  that  the  latter  read 
to  him  on  that  occasion  some  parts  of  his  manuscript  story, 
after  partially  examining  the  Book  of  Mormon  he  became  con- 
vinced that  Spaulding  had  written  its  outlines  before  he  left 
Conneaut. 

It  is  upon  the  testimony  of  these  parties  that  the  Spaulding 
theory  rests.  Subsequently  many  others  claimed  to  have  informa- 
tion upon  the  subject,  and  gave  affidavits  and  statements  to  news- 
papers almost  ad  infinitum,  constantly  varying  the  claims  and 


112  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

adding  items  that  so  burdened  the  theory  with  inconsistencies 
and  contradictions  that  it  breaks  down,  as  we  shall  see,  under 
the  accumulation. 

As  further  proof  of  the  genuineness  of  the  testimony 
already  given,  I  submit  the  following  admission  from  the 
pen  of  Joseph  Smith,  president  of  the  Reorganized 
Church,  as  found  in  his  pamphlet,  "The  Spaulding  Story 
Re-examined,"  page  6: 

The  witnesses,  with  scarcely  an  exception,  are  of  that  class 
that  gives  secondary  or  hearsay  evidence.1  John  Spaulding  tells 
what  his  brother  told  him.  Martha  Spaulding  states,  that  having 
read  the  Book  of  Mormon,  she  has  no  doubt  it  is  the  same 
historically  that  she  read  and  heard  read  more  than  twenty  years 
ago.  Nahum  Howard  states  only  what  he  says  Spaulding  told 
him.  Artemas  Cunningham  recollects  an  expression,  "I  Nephi," 
as  occurring  in  the  reading  of  a  manuscript  by  Spaulding — but 
pleads  the  lapse  of  twenty-two  years  as  accounting  for  a  failure 
to  remember  more  fully  the  general  plot.  After  a  partial  ex- 
amination, he  believes  that  Spaulding  wrote  the  outlines  before 
leaving  Conneaut. 

Having  established  by  the  admissions  of  these  gentle- 
men that  the  testimonies  given  were  really  borne  by  the 
individuals  to  whom  they  are  ascribed,  I  now  pass  to 
prove  that  the  latter  were  persons  of  excellent  reputa- 
tion for  honesty  and  veracity.  Of  the  eight  whose  testi- 
monies are  given  in  the  preceding  chapter,  E.  D.  Howe 
says: 

We  might  therefore  introduce  a  great  number  of  witnesses, 
all  testifying  to  the  same  general  facts;  but  we  have  not  taken 
the  trouble  to  procure  the  statements  of  but  few,  all  of  whom 
are  the  most  respectable  men,  and  highly  esteemed  for  their 
moral  worth,  and  their  characters  for  truth  and  veracity  are  un- 
impeachable. In  fact,  the  word  of  any  one  of  them  would  have 
more  weight  in  any  respectable  community,  than  the  whole 

'Compare  this  assertion  carefully  with  the  statements  of  these  parties 
and  see  how  wide  of  the  truth  it  is. 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  113 

family  of  Smiths  and  Whitmers,  who  have  told  about  hearing 
the  voice  of  an  angel. 

As  throwing  light  upon  the  reputation  of  two  of  our 
witnesses,  Aaron  Wright  and  Henry  Lake,  I  also  offer 
the  following  affidavit  of  Mr.  J.  H.  Britton,  of  Paines- 
ville,  Ohio: 

THE  STATE  OF  OHIO,  ") 

Lake  County.        J  ss< 

Before  me,  a  notary  public  in  and  for  said  county,  per- 
sonally appeared  J.  H.  Britton,  who,  being  duly  sworn,  on  his 
oath  says: 

That  he  is  now  a  resident  of  Painesville  in  said  county,  and 
is  now  of  the  age  of  seventy-two  years;  was  born  in  the  town 
of  Van  Buren,  Onondaga  Co.,  N.  Y.,  and  he  further  says:  I 
was  living  in  my  father's  home  in  the  township  of  Richmond, 
Ashtabula  Co.,  O.,  from  about  1836  until  about  1848,  and  during 
that  time  I  became  and  was  acquainted  with  Aaron  Wright  and 
Henry  Lake,  two  of  the  persons  who  have  furnished  statements 
as  to  the  origin  of  the  Book  of  Mormon;  which  statements  are 
published  in  E.  D.  Howe's  "History  of  Mormonism"  or  "Mor- 
monism  Unveiled,"  published  at  Painesville,  O.,  in  1834;  that  I 
knew  said  Wright  and  Lake  well,  that  they  were  men  of  good 
reputation  for  truth  and  veracity,  and  were  in  every  way  well 
esteemed  and  respected  in  the  community  where  they  lived.  Mr. 
Wright  then  lived  in  the  village  of  Conneaut,  in  said  county,  and 
was  one  of  the  pioneers  of  the  vicinity,  and  a  large  owner  of 
real-estate,  and  owned  a  flouring-mill  which  was  reported  to  be 
the  first  mill  of  its  kind  built  in  that  vicinity.  Mr.  Lake  also 
lived  near  Mr.  Wright,  and  was  also  one  of  the  first  settlers 
of  the  vicinity.  And  further  affiant  sayeth  not. 

J.  H.  BRITTON. 

Subscribed  in  my  presence  and  sworn  to  before  me  this  22d 
day  of  June,  1905.  G.  N.  TUTTLE, 

(Seal)  Notary  public  in  and  for  said  county. 

In  this  chapter  and  the  preceding,  we  have  established 
three  things: 

First,  that  Spaulding's  "Manuscript  Found"  resem- 
bled the  Book  of  Mormon  in  general  historical  outline 


114  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN  OF 

and  in  such  proper  names  as  Lehi,  Nephi,  Laman, 
Nephites,  Lamanites,  Amlicites  and  Zarahemla. 

Secondly,  that  the  testimonies  of  the  eleven  indi- 
viduals, who  have  certified  to  these  facts,  are  genuine. 

Thirdly,  that  the  character  of  these  individuals  was 
considered  the  best  and  their  reputation  for  honesty  and 
veracity  was  unimpeachable. 

THE   DISCLOSURES   OF   JOHN   C.   BENNETT. 

Dr.  John  C.  Bennett,  Quartermaster  General  of  the 
state  of  Illinois,  became  a  convert  to  Mormonism  in  the 
summer  of  1840  and  soon  after  removed  to  the  city  of 
Nauvoo.  Here  he  rapidly  grew  in  favor  with  the  prophet 
Joseph  Smith  and  the  Mormon  people  until  he  was  ele- 
vated to  the  position  of  "assistant  president"  '  of  the 
Church  during  the  illness  of  Sidney  Rigdon.  The  in- 
timacy between  Smith  and  Bennett  continued  until  the 
summer  of  1842,  when  they  quarreled  and  Bennett 
left  Nauvoo.  Later,  he  published  an  expose  of  the 
conditions  in  that  city  through  the  columns  of  the  San- 
gamo  Journal,  of  Springfield,  Illinois,  and  his  book, 
"Mormonism  Exposed."  On  the  origin  of  the  Book  of 
Mormon,  he  says : 

I  will  remark  here,  in  confirmation  of  the  above,  that  the 
Book  of  Mormon  was  originally  written  by  the  Rev.  Solomon 
Spaulding,  A.M.,  as  a  romance,  and  entitled  the  "Manuscript 
Found,"  and  placed  by  him  in  the  printing-office  of  Patterson 
and  Lambdin,  in  the  city  of  Pittsburg,  from  whence  it  was 
taken  by  a  conspicuous  Mormon  divine,  and  re-modeled,  by 
adding  the  religious  portion,  placed  by  him  in  Smith's  possession, 
and  then  published  to  the  world  as  the  testimony  exemplifies. 
This  I  have  from  the  Confederation,  and  of  its  perfect  cor- 
rectness there  is  not  the  shadow  of  a  doubt.  There  never  were 
any  plates  of  the  Book  of  Mormon,  excepting  what  were  seen 

1  See  Times  and  Seasons,  Vol.  II.,  p.  3&7- 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  116 

by  the  spiritual,  and  not  the  natural,  eyes  of  the  witnesses.    The 
story  of  the  plates  is  all  chimerical.1 

The  Mormons  answer  this  and  other  disclosures  of 
Bennett  by  saying  that  he  had  been  cut  off  from  the 
church,  that  he  was  therefore  sore  at  the  Prophet,  and 
that  his  testimony  is  all  a  lie.  But  they  can  not  deny  that 
before  his  apostasy  he  was  held  in  the  very  highest 
esteem,*  or  that  he  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  the  other 
Mormon  leaders  as  few  men  did.  Therefore,  as  his  story 
agrees  perfectly  with  what  others  have  testified  to,  I  be- 
lieve that  it  must  be  accepted  as  true.  The  ' 'conspicuous 
Mormon  divine"  was  none  other  than  Sidney  Rigdon, 
who  was  a  warm  friend  of  Bennett  and  who  was  on  the 
verge  of  leaving  the  Mormons  at  this  time  himself. 

1  "Mormonism  Exposed,"  pp.  123,  124.     Bennett  says  further:  "Shortly 
after  I  located   in   Nauvoo,  Joe  promised  to   me  to  go  to  New  York  and 
get  some  plates  engraved,  and  bring  them  to  him,  so  that  he  could  exhibit 
them   as  the  genuine  plates  of  the   Book   of  Mormon,  which  he   pretended 
had  been  taken  from  him  and  'hid  up'  by  an  angel,  and  which  he  would 
profess  to  have  recovered.     He  calculated  upon  making  considerable  money 
by  this  trick,  as  there  would  of  course  be  a  great  anxiety  to  see  the  plates, 
which   he   intended   to   exhibit   at   twenty-five   cents   a   sight.      I    mentioned 
this  proposition  to  Mrs.  Sarah  M.  Pratt,  on  the  day  the  Prophet  made  it, 
and    requested   her   to    keep   it   in   memory,   as   it   might   be    of   much    im- 
portance"   (p.    175).      Mrs.    Pratt    afterwards    confirmed    Bennett's    state- 
ment.    Dr.   Wyl,   "Mormon   Portraits,"   p.    21,   says:   "When   asked   by   me 
in  the  spring  of  1885  about  this  statement  of  John  C.  Bennett,  Mrs.  Pratt 
confirmed   it  fully   and   stated   also   that   Bennett   had   reported   to   her  thi» 
conversation  with  Joseph  on  the  very  day  when  it  happened."     Was  there 
ever  a  bigger  grafter  than  Joseph  Smith? 

2  Here    is    one    of   the   many    good   things    said    about    Bennett   by    the 
Mormon  press  before  his  apostasy:   "We   would  say,   that   if  untiring  dili- 
gence  to   aid   the   afflicted   and   the    oppressed,   zeal    for    the    promotion    of 
literature  and  intelligence,  and  a  virtuous  and  consistent  conduct,  are  evi- 
dences  of   popularity,   &c.,    we    venture   to   say   that   no    man   deserves   the 
appellations  of  'popular  and  deserving'  more  than   Gen.  J.   C.   Bennett." — 
Times  and  Seasons,   2:  351. 


116  THE   TRUE  .ORIGIN   OF 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

Rigdon's  Connection  with  the  Spaulding  Romance — His  Rela- 
tions with  J.  Harrison  Lambdin — Suspected  of  Stealing  the 
Manuscript — Exhibits  the  Manuscript — Foretells  the  Coming 
Out  of  the  Book  of  Mormon. 

Sidney  Rigdon  was  born  at  Piney  Fork,  Allegheny 
County,  Pennsylvania,  February  19,  1793.  The  place  of 
his  birth  is  variously  estimated  at  from  six  to  twelve 
miles  from  Pittsburgh.1  He  lived  on  the  farm  with  his 
parents  up  to  the  time  of  his  father's  death  in  1810,  and 
after  that  until  his  twenty-sixth  year,  or  till  1819.  He 
united  with  the  Baptist  Church  at  Piney  Fork,  May  31, 
1817,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  in  March,  1819.  In  the 
month  of  May  following,  he  removed  to  Trumbull 
County,  Ohio.  The  following  year  he  was  ordained  a 
Baptist  minister  and  was  married  to  Phoebe  Brooks,  a 
sister  of  the  wife  of  Adamson  Bentley,  who  at  that  time 
was  a  minister  in  the  Baptist  Church,  but  who  was 
afterwards  prominently  connected  with  the  movement  of 
the  Campbells.  In  November,  1821,  Rigdon  received  a 
call  from  the  Baptist  Church  of  Pittsburgh,  and  began 
his  pastoral  duties  in  February,  1822.  On  October  n, 
1823,  he  was  excluded  for  heresy,  and,  subsequently,  with 
the  assistance  of  Alexander  Campbell  and  Walter  Scott, 
organized  a  Disciple  church  of  which  he  became  the 
pastor.  He  continued  to  preach  for  the  Disciples  up  to 
the  time  that  he  became  a  Mormon  in  November,'  1830. 

1  Schroeder,  p.  15. 

2  Some  accounts  say  in  December. 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  117 

RIGDON'S   RELATIONS    WITH    J.    HARRISON    LAMBDIN. 

In  the  year  1812,  Spaulding  removed  from  Conneaut, 
Ohio,  to  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  in  order  to  have  his 
"Manuscript  Found"  published.  At  this  time,  Robert 
.  Patterson  was  in  the  printing  business  in  that  city  in  the 
firm  of  Patterson  &  Hopkins,  which  continued  until  Jan- 
uary, iSiS.1  During  the  years  1812-16,  in  which  the  re- 
lations of  Spaulding  with  Patterson  existed,  J.  Harrison 
Lambdin  was  an  employe  at  the  printing-office.  It  has 
been  claimed  that  Rigdon  was  also  employed  by  Patter- 
son at  this  time,  but  this  claim  lacks  proof.  However, 
the  facts  are  established  that  he  was  a  particular  friend 
of  Lambdin  and  that  he  spent  considerable  of  his  time 
lounging  around  the  office.  As  establishing  this  point, 
I  submit  the  testimony  of  Mrs.  R.  J.  Eichbaum,  given 
September  18,  1879: 

My  father,  John  Johnson,  was  postmaster  at  Pittsburg  for 
about  eighteen  years,  from  1804  to  1822.  My  husband,  William 
Eichbaum,  succeeded  him,  and  was  postmaster  for  about  eleven 
years,  from  1822  to  1833.  I  was  born  August  25,  1792,  and  when 
I  became  old  enough,  I  assisted  my  father  in  attending  to  the 
postoffice,  and  became  familiar  with  his  duties.  From  1811  to 
1816,  I  was  the  regular  clerk  in  the  office,  assorting,  making  up, 
dispatching,  opening  and  distributing  the  mails.  Pittsburg  was 
then  a  small  town,  and  I  was  well  acquainted  with  all  the  stated 
visitors  at  the  office  who  called  regularly  for  their  mails.  So 
meager  at  that  time  were  the  mails  that  I  could  generally  tell 
without  looking  whether  or  not  there  was  anything  for  such 
persons,  though  I  would  usually  look  in  order  to  satisfy  them. 
I  was  married  in  1815,  and  the  next  year  my  connection  with 
the  office  ceased,  except  during  the  absences  of  my  husband.  I 
knew  and  distinctly  remember  Robert  and  Joseph  Patterson,  J. 
Harrison  Lambdin,  Silas  Engles  and  Sidney  Rigdon.  I  re- 
member Rev.  Mr.  Spaulding,  but  simply  as  one  who  occasionally 
called  to  inquire  for  letters.  I  remember  there  was  an  evident 

1  Schroeder,  p.  19. 


118  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

intimacy  between  Lambdin  and  Rigdon.  They  very  often  came 
to  the  office  together.  I  particularly  remember  that  they  would 
thus  come  during  the  hour  on  Sabbath  afternoon  when  the  office 
was  required  to  be  open,  and  I  remember  feeling  sure  that  Rev. 
Mr.  Patterson  knew  nothing  of  this,  or  he  would  have  put  a 
stop  to  it.  I  do  not  know  what  position,  if  any,  Rigdon  filled 
in  Patterson's  store  or  printing  office,  but  am  well  assured  he 
was  frequently,  if  not  constantly,  there  for  a  large  part  of  the 
time  when  I  was  clerk  in  the  postoffice.  I  recall  Mr.  Engles  say- 
ing that  "Rigdon  was  always  hanging  around  the  printing  office." 
He  was  connected  with  the  tannery  before  he  became  a  preacher, 
though  he  may  have  continued  the  business  whilst  preaching. 

The  testimony  of  Mrs.  Eichbaum  nullifies  the  claim 
of  certain  Mormon  writers  that  "Sidney  Rigdon  never 
was  at  Pittsburgh,  or  any  other  place,  at  the  same  time 
as  Mr.  Spaulding's  manuscript  was  there,  and  therefore 
he  could  not  have  seen  or  read  it."  !  While  he  may  not 
have  lived  *  at  Pittsburgh  until  he  assumed  the  pastorate 
of  the  Baptist  Church  of  that  city,  it  is  very  improbable, 
even  if  we  lay  aside  the  foregoing  statement,  that  he  was 
never  there  before  that  event,  as  his  parents'  farm  was 
only  between  six  and  twelve  miles  distant  and  as  he  con- 
tinued to  reside  with  his  mother  until  the  year  1819. 
Spaulding's  Romance  was  stolen  from  Patterson's  estab- 
lishment in  1815  or  1816,  at  which  time  Rigdon  was 
twenty-three  or  twenty- four  years  of  age.  To  contend, 
therefore,  that  a  young  man  that  old,  in  good  health  and 
mental  vigor,  would  live  but  a  few  miles  distant  from 
the  leading  city  and  chief  trading-point  of  that  part  of 
the  country  and  never  visit  it,  is  so  absurd  that  it  is  not 

1  Schroeder,  p.  21. 

a"Myth  of  the  Manuscript  Found,"  p.  23. 

8  The  testimonies  that  Mormons  present  (see  "Myth,  etc.,"  p.  25)  to 
prove  that  Rigdon  could  not  have  stolen  the  manuscript  simply  prove  that 
he  did  not  live  in  Pittsburgh  before  1822,  and  this  we  concede.  But  he 
did  live  only  a  few  miles  from  there  until  1819.  This  Mormons  have  to 
concede. 


SIDNEY   RIGDON. 


THE  BOOK  OP  MORMON  119 

worth  consideration.  The  fact  is,  that  while  Rigdon 
lived  at  Piney  Fork,  he  was  frequently  in  Pittsburgh, 
and  while  there  lounged  around  the  printing-office,  so  he 
had  ample  opportunity  to  steal  the  manuscript  as  has  been 
charged. 

RIGDON   SUSPECTED  OF  THE  THEFT. 

Rigdon  not  only  had  the  opportunity  to  steal  the  man- 
uscript, but  he  was  also  suspected  of  being  the  thief  by 
Spaulding  himself.  On  this  point,  Joseph  Miller,  whose 
testimony  upon  another  occasion  we  have  given,  says : 

My  recollection  is  that  Spaulding  left  a  transcript  of  the 
manuscript  with  Patterson  for  publication.  The  publication  was 
delayed  until  Spaulding  could  write- -a  preface.  In  the  meantime 
the  manuscript  was  spirited  away,  and  could  not  be  found. 
Spaulding  told  me  that  Sidney  Rigdon  had  taken  it,  or  was  sus- 
pected of  taking  it.  I  recollect  distinctly  that  Rigdon's  name 
was  mentioned  in  connection  with  it.1 

This  same  gentleman,  in  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Ellen  E. 
Dickinson  and  dated  at  Ten  Mile,  Pennsylvania,  Feb- 
ruary 13,  1882,  says  again: 

Patterson  said  he,  Patterson,  would  publish  it,  if  he,  Spauld- 
ing, would  write  a  title  page.  He  told  me  he  kept  a  little  store 
in  Pittsburg.  He  then  moved  to  Amity,  leaving  a  copy  of  the 
manuscript  in  Patterson's  hands.  After  being  at  Amity  some 
time,  he  went  back  to  Pittsburg,  took  his  title  page;  he  called 
it  the  lost  manuscript  found.  When  he  went  to  Pittsburg,  the 
manuscript  could  not  be  found.  He  said  there  was,  or  had  been, 
a  man  by  the  name  of  Sidney  Rigdon  (who)  had  stole  it.1 

The  physician  who  attended  Spaulding  during  his  last 
illness  was  Dr.  Cephas  Dodd.  With  him  Spaulding  was 
very  confidential,  and  confided  to  him  his  suspicions  of 
the  theft.  After  the  death  of  Spaulding,  Dr.  Dodd  pur- 

1  "Braden-Kelley  Debate,"  p.   44. 
*  "New  Light   on   Mormonism,"  p.   140. 
(9) 


120  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

chased  a  copy  of  the  Book  of  Mormon,  and,  after  reading 
it,  inscribed  the  following  on  one  of  the  fly-leaves,  June 
6,  1831 : 

This  work,  I  am  convinced  by  facts  related  to  me  by  my  de- 
ceased patient,  Solomon  Spaulding,  has  been  made  from  writings 
of  Spaulding,  probably  by  Sidney  Rigdon,  who  was  suspicioned 
by  Spaulding  with  purloining  his  manuscript  from  the  publishing- 
house  to  which  he  had  taken  it;  and  I  am  prepared  to  testify 
that  Spaulding  told  me  that  his  work  was  entitled,  "The  Manu- 
script Found  in  the  Wilds  of  Mormon ;  or  Unearthed  Records 
of  the  Nephites."  From  his  description  of  its  contents,  I  fully 
believe  that  this  Book  of  Mormon  is  mainly  and  wickedly  copied 
from  it.  CEPHAS  DODD. 

JUNE  6,  1831. 

RIGDON   EXHIBITS  THE    MANUSCRIPT. 

The  next  step  in  the  history  of  this  manuscript  is  its 
exhibition  by  Rigdon.  While  he  was  pastor  of  the  Bap- 
tist Church  of  Pittsburgh,  Rev.  John  Winter,  M.D.,  was 
a  member  of  his  church  and  a  schoolteacher  of  that  city. 
Dr.  Winter  testifies  as  follows : 

In  1822  or  3,  Rigdon  took  out  of  his  desk  in  his  study  a 
large  MS.  stating  that  it  was  a  Bible  romance  purporting  to  be 
a  history  of  the  American  Indians.  That  it  was  written  by  one, 
Spaulding,  a  Presbyterian  preacher  whose  health  had  failed  and 
who  had  taken  it  to  the  printers  to  see  if  it  would  pay  to  publish 
it.  And  that  he  (Rigdon)  had  borrowed  it  from  the  printer  as  a 
curiosity.1 

Dr.  Winter  died  at  Sharon,  Pennsylvania,  in  the  year 
1878,  but  his  testimony  is  vouched  for  by  Rev.  J.  A. 
Bonsall,  his  son-in-law,  Rev.  A.  G.  Kirk  and  Mrs.  Mary 
W.  Irvine,  Dr.  Winter's  daughter. 

Under  date  of  December  7,  1879,  Mrs.  Amos  Dunlap, 
a  niece  of  Mrs.  Rigdon,  wrote  as  follows  from  Warren, 
Ohio: 

1  "Braden-Kelley  Debate,"  p.  49. 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  121 

When  I  was  quite  a  child  I  visited  Mr.  Rigdon's  family.  He 
married  my  aunt.  They  at  that  time  lived  at  Bainbridge,  Ohio, 
(1826-27).  During  my  visit,  Mr.  Rigdon  went  to  his  bedroom 
and  took  from  a  trunk  which  he  kept  locked,  a  certain  manu- 
script. He  came  out  into  the  other  room  and  seated  himself  by 
the  fireplace  and  commenced  reading  it.  His  wife  at  that  moment 
came  into  the  room  and  exclaimed :  "What,  you  are  studying 
that  thing  again?"  or  something  to  that  effect.  She  then  added: 
"I  mean  to  burn  that  paper."  He  said:  "No,  indeed,  you  will 
not;  this  will  be  a  great  thing  some  day."  Whenever  he  was 
reading  this,  he  was  so  completely  occupied  that  he  seemed  en- 
tirely unconscious  of  anything  passing  around  him.1 

Since  Rigdon,  and  no  one  else,  has  ever  claimed  that 
he  himself  wrote  such  a  manuscript,  we  are  warranted, 
in  the  light  of  the  other  evidences  adduced,  in  believing 
that  this  was  none  other  than  the  romance  of  Solomon 
Spaulding  which  he  had  exhibited  to  Dr.  Winter  three 
or  four  years  before. 

RIGDON  FORETELLS  THE  COMING  OUT  OF  THE  BOOK  OF 
MORMON. 

Rigdon  did  not  stop  with  the  exhibition  of  this  man- 
uscript; he  foretold  the  coming  out  of  a  book  describing 
the  ancient  inhabitants  of  America,  at  least  three  years 
before  the  Book  of  Mormon  appeared.  In  the  Millennial 
Harbinger  for  1844,  page  39,  there  appeared  the  follow- 
ing letter  from  Adamson  Bentley,  Rigdon's  brother-in- 
law: 

SOLON,  January  22,  1841. 

DEAR  BROTHER  SCOTT:— Your  favor  of  the  7th  December  is 
received.  I  returned  from  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  on  the  loth,  and  the 
answer  to  your  acceptable  letter  has  been  deferred.  I  was  much 
gratified  to  hear  from  you  and  family,  but  would  be  much  more 
so  to  see  you  once  more  in  the  flesh,  and  talk  over  our  toils  and 
anxieties  in  the  cause  of  our  blessed  Redeemer. 

1  Schrocder,  p.  24. 


122  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

You  request  that  I  should  give  you  all  the  information  I 
am  in  possession  of  respecting  Mormonism.  I  know  that  Sidney 
Rigdon  told  me  there  was  a  book  coming  out  (the  manuscript 
of  which  had  been  found  engraved  on  geld  plates)  as  much  as 
two  years  before  the  Mormon  book  made  its  appearance  in  this 
country  or  had  been  heard  of  by  me.  The  same  I  communicated 
to  brother  A.  Campbell.  The  Mormon  book  has  nothing  of 
baptism  for  the  remission  of  sins  in  it;1  and  of  course  at  the 
time  Rigdon  got  Solomon  Spaulding's  manuscript  he  did  not 
understand  the  scriptures  on  that  subject.  I  cannot  say  he 
learnt  it  from  me,  as  he  had  been  about  a  week  with  you  in 
Nelson  and  VVindham,  before  he  came  to  my  house.  I,  however, 
returned  \vith  him  to  Mentor.  He  stated  to  me  that  he  did  not 
feel  himself  capable  of  introducing  the  subject  in  Mentor,  and 
would  not  return  without  me  if  he  had  to  stay  two  weeks  with 
us  to  induce  me  to  go.  This  is  about  all  I  can  say.  I  have  no 
doubt  but  the  account  given  in  Mormonism  Unmasked  is  about 
the  truth.  It  was  got  up  to  deceive  the  people  and  obtain  their 
property,  and  was  a  wicked  contrivance  with  Sidney  Rigdon  and 
Joseph  Smith,  Jr.  May  God  have  mercy  on  the  wicked  men, 
and  may  they  repent  of  this  their  wickedness! 

May  the  Lord  bless  you,  brother  Scott,  and  family! 

Yours  most  affectionately,  ADAM  SON  BENTLEY. 

In  the  same  paper,  Alexander  Campbell,  editor,  cor- 
roborated the  foregoing  statement  and  commented  upon 
Bennett's  letter  in  the  following  note : 

The  conversation  alluded  to  in  Brother  Bentley's  letter  of 
1841,  was  in  my  presence  as  well  as  his,  and  my  recollection  of 
it  led  me,  some  two  or  three  years  ago,  to  interrogate  Brother 
Bentley  touching  his  recollection  of  it,  which  accorded  with 
mine  in  every  particular,  except  the  year  in  which  it  occurred, 
he  placing  it  in  the  summer  of  1827,  I  in  the  summer  of  1826, 
Rigdon  at  the  same  time  observing  that  in  the  plates  dug  up  in 
New  York,  there  was  an  account,  not  only  of  the  aborigines  of 
this  country,  but  also  it  was  stated  that  the  Christian  religion 
had  been  preached  in  this  country  during  the  first  century,  just 
as  we  were  preaching  it  in  the  Western  Reserve. 


»In  this  Bentley  was  mistaken,  and  Campbell  corrected  his  mistake  in 
the  same  issue. 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  123 

Adamson  Bentley  and  Alexander  Campbell  were  pio- 
neer preachers  in  the  great  Restoration  movement,  and 
their  testimonies  will  not  fail  to  carry  weight.  They 
establish  beyond  a  doubt  that  Rigdon  knew  of  the  opera- 
tions of  Smith  years  before  his  pretended  conversion  to 
Mormonism. 

As  further  confirmatory  of  the  same  contention,  we 
have  the  testimony  of  Darwin  Atwater,  of  Mantua 
Station,  Ohio,  communicated  to  A.  S.  Hayden  April  26, 
1873,  in  the  form  of  a  letter  which  is  published  in  the 
latter's  book,  "History  of  the  Disciples  in  the  Western 
Reserve,"  pages  239,  240.  Mr.  Atwater  says: 

Soon  after  this,  the  great  Mormon  defection  came  on  us 
(Disciples  of  Christ).  Sidney  Rigdon  preached  for  us,  and  not- 
withstanding his  extravagantly  wild  freaks,  he  was  held  in  high 
repute  by  many.  For  a  few  months  before  his  professed  con- 
version to  Mormonism,  it  was  noticed  that  his  wild,  extravagant 
propensities  had  been  more  marked.  That  he  knew  before  of  the 
coming  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  is  to  me  certain,  from  what  he 
said  the  first  of  his  visits  at  my  father's,  some  years  before.  He 
gave  a  wonderful  description  of  the  mounds  and  other  antiquities 
found  in  some  parts  of  America,  and  said  that  they  must  have 
been  made  by  the  Aborigines.  He  said  there  was  a  book  to  bt 
published  containing  an  account  of  those  things.  He  spoke  of 
these  in  his  eloquent,  enthusiastic  style,  as  being  a  thing  most 
extraordinary. 

Still  another  witness,  to  whom  Rigdon  expressed  his 
expectations,  was  Dr.  S.  Rosa.  This  gentleman  wrote 
from  Painesville,  Ohio,  under  date  of  June  3,  1841,  as 
follows : 

In  the  early  part  of  the  year  1830,  when  the  Book  of  Mor- 
mon appeared,  either  in  May  or  June,  I  was  in  company  with 
Sidney  Rigdon,  and  rode  with  him  on  horseback  a  few  miles. 
Our  conversation  was  principally  upon  the  subject  of  religion, 
as  he  was  at  that  time  a  very  popular  preacher  of  the  denom- 
ination calling  themselves  "Disciples,"  or  Campbellites.  He  re- 


124  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

marked  to  me  that  it  was  time  for  a  new  religion  to  spring  up; 
that  mankind  were  all  rife  and  ready  for  it.  I  thought  he  al- 
luded to  the  Campbellite  doctrine.  He  said  it  would  not  be  long 
before  something  would  make  its  appearance;  he  also  said  that 
he  thought  of  leaving  Pennsylvania,  and  should  be  absent  for 
some  months.  I  asked  him  how  long.  He  said  it  would  depend 
upon  circumstances.  I  began  to  think  a  little  strange  of  his  re- 
marks, as  he  was  a  minister  of  the  gospel.  I  left  Ohio  that  fall 
and  went  to  the  state  of  New  York  to  visit  my  friends  who  lived 
in  Waterloo,  not  far  from  the  mine  of  golden  Bibles.  In  No- 
vember 1  was  informed  that  my  old  neighbor,  E.  Partridge,  and 
the  Rev.  Sidney  Rigdon  were  in  Waterloo,  and  that  they  both 
had  become  the  dupes  of  Joe  Smith's  necromancies.  It  then 
occurred  to  me  that  Rigdon's  new  religion  had  made  its  ap- 
pearance, and  when  I  became  informed  of  the  Spaulding  manu- 
script, I  was  confirmed  in  the  opinion  that  Rigdon  was  at  least 
accessory,  if  not  the  principal,  in  getting  up  this  farce.1 

Dr.  Rosa  supplies  a  number  of  links  for  the  chain 
that  connects  Sidney  Rigdon  with  the  Mormon  fraud. 
In  the  first  place,  the  foregoing  conversation  occurred, 
according  to  Rosa,  in  May  or  June  of  1830,  which  was 
about  six  months  before  Rigdon  openly  united  with  the 
Mormons.  In  the  second  place,  Rigdon  told  him  that  a 
new  religion  was  about  to  make  its  appearance,  which 
shows  that  he  had  some  anticipations  along  that  line, 
hence  that  he  must  have  kept  informed  of  the  movements 
of  Smith.  And,  in  the  third,  Rigdon  declared  that  he 
thought  of  leaving  Pennsylvania  and  of  being  gone  some 
months,  probably  to  confer  with  Smith  in  regard  to  the 
launching  of  the  new  ecclesiastical  craft. 

The  evidence  which  I  have  presented  in  this  chapter 
seems  to  establish  conclusively  that  Sidney  Rigdon  was 
an  intimate  friend  of  J.  Harrison  Lambdin,  an  employe 
in  the  Patterson  printing-office,  and  that  he,  living  not 
more  than  twelve  miles  distant  from  Pittsburgh,  was 

1  Schroeder,  p.  25. 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  125 

frequently  in  that  city  and  lounged  around  the  office; 
that  at  this  time  the  "Manuscript  Found"  of  Spaulding, 
which  had  been  placed  in  Patterson's  hands  for  publica- 
tion, came  up  missing  and  that  Rigdon  was  suspected  of 
the  theft ;  that  Rigdon,  after  Spaulding's  death,  exhibited 
such  a  manuscript,  which,  upon  one  occasion,  he  de- 
clared had  been  written  by  Spaulding,  and  that  at  least 
three  years  before  the  Book  of  Mormon  came  out  and 
the  Mormon  Church  was  organized,  he  made  disclosures 
to  certain  individuals  which  go  to  show  that  at  this  time 
he  was  perfectly  familiar  with  the  movements  and  plans 
of  Joseph  Smith.1 

xThe  "Doctrine  and  Covenants"  (34:2)  throws  out  a  hint  of  Rigdon's 
former  connection  with  Mormonism  in  these  words:  "Behold,  verily,  verily 
I  say  unto  my  servant  Sidney,  I  have  looked  upon  thee  and  thy  works.  I 
have  heard  thy  prayers  and  prepared  thee  for  a  greater  work.  Thou  art 
blessed,  for  thou  shalt  do  great  things.  Behold,  thou  wast  sent  forth  even 
as  John,  to  prepare  the  way  before  me,  and  before  Elijah  which  should 
come,  and  thou  knew  it  not."  Nearly  all  Gentiles  will  agree  with  the 
Mormons  that  Sidney  prepared  the  way  before  the  Mormon  delusion,  but 
when  it  comes  to  the  statement  that  he  knew  it  not,  it  is  quite  another 
thing. 


126  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OP' 


CHAPTER    IX. 

Rigdon's  Connection  with  Smith — The  Pretended  Conversion  of 
Rigdon — Rigdon's  Previous  Visits  to  Smith — The  Mormon 
Alibi — Katherine  Salisbury's  Affidavit. 

It  is  the  conviction  of  nearly  all  of  the  opponents  of 
Mormonism,  who  have  paid  particular  attention  to  the 
history  of  its  origin,  that  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of 
Latter-day  Saints  was  not  an  emanation  from  the  mind 
of  Joseph  Smith,  but  that  it  was  first  conceived  of  by 
Sidney  Rigdon,1  and  that  Smith  was  merely  his  tool  in 
giving  the  movement  publicity  while  he  played  his  part 
behind  the  scenes  until  his  pretended  conversion  in  the 
year  1830.  And  it  is  a  further  conviction  that  Rigdon 
and  his  puppet,  Smith,  were  not  the  only  members  of 
the  conspiracy,  but  that  associated  with  them  were  Hyrum 
Smith,  Oliver  Cowdery,  Parley  P.  Pratt,  Martin  Harris 
and  probably  others,  who  came  in  to  play  their  particular 
roles  and  to  receive  in  return  the  honors  and  pecuniary 
benefits  of  the  Mormon  kingdom.* 

The  part  that  Rigdon  played  in  the  genesis  of  Mor- 
monism was  most  secret,  but  the  evidences  of  it,  though 
meager,  are  conclusive.  It  is  certain  that  he  made  a 


1  Strange  as  it  may  seem  upon  any  other  hypothesis,  the  very  doctrines 
that  Rigdon  preached  before  1830  became  a  most  vital  part  of  the  Mormon 
system  after  that  date. 

•Personally,  I  am  satisfied  that  the  "Gold  Bible  Company"  was  com- 
posed of  a  larger  number  of  individuals  than  the  ordinary  reader  has  ever 
dreamed  of,  and  that  each  had  his  part  to  play  in  springing  the  system 
upon  the  world.  Rigdon  was  the  theologian,  Smith  the  prophet,  Cowdery  the 
scribe,  Harris  the  financier,  Parley  P.  Pratt  the  dreamer  and  Orson  Pratt 
the  logician.  The  underlying  motives  were  two:  first,  to  make  money  out 
of  the  fraud,  and,  secondly,  to  gratify  lust.  These  motives  come  to  the 
surface,  here  and  there,  all  the  way  through  the  history  of  Mormonism. 


PARLEY    PARKER   PRATT. 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  127 

number  of  clandestine  visits  to  Palmyra  before  1830,  and 
was  known  in  that  vicinity  as  the  "mysterious  stranger/' 
while  it  is  also  believed  that  he  communicated  with  Smith 
through  their  confederates,  Oliver  Cowdery  and  Parley 
P.  Pratt.  Cowdery  first  appeared  publicly  upon  the 
Mormon  stage  in  the  year  1829,  although  we  have  every 
reason  to  believe  that  he  was  secretly  playing  an  im- 
portant part  before;  but  Pratt  withheld  his  debut  until 
August,  1830,  when  he  was  suddenly  and  miraculously 
converted  while  on  a  visit  to  New  York  and  began  at 
once  his  work  as  a  missionary.  From  this  time  on,  he 
was  a  prominent  actor  in  the  Mormon  drama  until  he 
fell  a  victim  of  his  own  lust  at  the  hands  of  an  enraged 
husband,  Hector  McLean,  in  1857,  whose  wife  he  had 
seduced  and  whose  home  he  had  broken  up.1 

THE   PRETENDED   CONVERSION   OF   RIGDON. 

In  October,  1830,  a  revelation  was  received  directing 
Parley  P.  Pratt,  Oliver  Cowdery,  Peter  Whitmer,  Jr.,  and 
Ziba  Peterson  to  leave  New  York  and  go  on  a  mission 
among  the  Indians.*  As  soon  as  this  revelation  was  re- 
ceived, the  "sisters"  of  the  church  set  themselves  to  the 
task  of  providing  the  requisite  clothing,  and,  about  the 
1 5th  of  the  month,  the  four  men  designated  "started  on 
their  mission,  preaching  and  baptizing  on  their  way, 
wherever  an  opportunity  offered.8 

1  Mrs.  McLean,  who  lived  in  Arkansas,  had  been  converted  to  Mor- 
monism  by  Pratt,  and,  later,  had  left  her  husband  and  children  and  gone 
to  Salt  Lake  City,  where  she  became  his  polygamous  wife.  After  this, 
she  and  Pratt  returned  axd  attempted  to  abduct  the  children,  but  failed. 
The  enraged  father  threatened  Pratt's  life,  and  the  latter  fled  on  horse- 
back. When  McLean  heard  of  his  flight,  he  gave  chase,  and,  overtaking 
kirn,  killed  him  with  his  bowie-knife,  twelve  miles  north  of  Van  Buren, 
Arkansas. 

'"Doctrine  and  Covenants,"  Sec.  31. 

* "Joseph   Smith  and  His  Progenitors,"  p.  305. 


128  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

Sidney  Rigdon,  at  this  time,  lived  at  Mentor,  two 
miles  from  Kirtland,  Ohio,  and  had  given  up  preaching 
and  gone  to  farming,  declaring  that  "he  had  been  mis- 
taken all  his  lifetime."  J  He  was  evidently  cleaning  and 
garnishing  his  house  for  its  early  reception  of  Mor- 
monism. 

Sometime  in  November,  the  Mormon  missionaries 
reached  Mentor,  and  Pratt,  being  acquainted  with  Rig- 
don, called  upon  him  and  presented  him  with  a  copy  of 
the  Book  of  Mormon.  Pratt  says : 

We  called  on  Elder  S.  Rigdon,  and  then  for  the  first  time 
his  eyes  beheld  the  Book  of  Mormon,  I,  myself,  had  the  happi- 
ness to  present  it  to  him  in  person.  He  was  much  surprised,  and 
it  was  with  much  persuasion  and  argument 2  that  he  was  prevailed 
on  to  read  it,  and  after  he  had  read  it,  he  had  a  great  struggle 
of  mind,  before  he  fully  believed  and  embraced  it;  and  when 
finally  convinced  of  its  truth,  he  called  together  a  large  congre- 
gation of  his  friends,  neighbors  and  brethren,  and  then  ad- 
dressed them  very  affectionately  for  nearly  two  hours  during 
most  of  which  time,  both  himself  and  nearly  all  the  congregation 
were  melted  into  tears.  He  asked  forgiveness  of  everybody  who 
might  have  had  occasion  to  be  offended  with  any  part  of  his 
former  life;  he  forgave  all  who  had  persecuted  or  injured  him 
in  any  manner,  and  the  next  morning  himself  and  wife  were 
baptized  by  Elder  O.  Cowdery.  I  was  present,  it  was  a  solemn 
scene,  most  of  the  people  were  great  affected,  they  came  out  of 
the  water  overwhelmed  in  tears.8 

The  date  of  Rigdon's  baptism,  according  to  the 
"Diary"  of  Lyman  Wight,  who  was  baptized  at  the  same 
time,  was  November  14,  1830.  This  is  said  to  have  been 


1  Testimony  of  Reuben  P.  Harmon  in  the  "Braden-Kelley  Debate." 
a  Pratt  did  not  always  tell  the  same  story  in  regard  to  the  manner  in 
which  Rigdon   received   the   Book   of  Mormon.     At  another  time,  he   said: 
"He  was  much  interested,  and  promised  a  thorough  perusal  of  the  book." 
— Journal  of  History,  January,   1910,  p.   15.     The  two  diverse  accounts  by 
the  same  person  are  probably  inadvertencies  due  to  neither  being  the  truth. 
'"Myth   of  the   Manuscript   Found,"   p.   33. 


THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON  129 

about  a  fortnight1  after  the  Book  of  Mormon  was  first 
presented  to  him.  But  Howe  declares  that  Rigdon  was 
baptized  the  second  day  after  Pratt's  arrival,2  while  H. 
H.  Clapp,  a  resident  of  Rigdon's  vicinity,  more  specif- 
ically puts  the  baptism  within  thirty-six  hours.8  In  any 
of  these  cases,  Rigdon's  conversion  was  altogether  too 
sudden  and  romantic  for  a  truly  candid,  careful  and  con- 
scientious investigator,  especially  when  we  consider  the 
startling  claims  of  Mormonism,  and  we  are  strongly  im- 
pressed that  it  was  only  part  of  a  prearranged  plan  and 
that  his  pretended  emotions  were  invented  for  the  oc- 
casion to  swing  his  neighbors  to  that  imposture  which 
he  had,  covertly,  been  one  of  the  means  of  foisting  upon 
the  world. 

RIGDON'S  PREVIOUS  VISITS  TO  SMITH. 

In  the  month  of  December  following  his  conversion, 
Sidney  Rigdon  went  to  Waterloo,  New  York,  accom- 
panied by  Edward  Partridge,  for  the  purpose  of  meeting 
Joseph  Smith,  and  immediately  took  up  the  work  of 
openly  promulgating  the  Mormon  faith.  In  the  latter 
part  of  January,  Joseph  and  his  family  left  New  York 
and  started  for  Kirtland,  the  home  of  Rigdon,  where  they 
arrived  about  the  first  of  February.* 

Mormons  declare  that  prior  to  this  visit  of  Rigdon  to 
the  Smiths  in  New  York,  he  had  no  acquaintance  with 
them  and  never  visited  them,  and,  hence,  that  he  could 
not  have  been  in  collusion  with  Joseph  in  springing  Mor- 
monism upon  the  world.  As  an  answer  to  this  claim,  I 
now  submit  the  testimonies  of  a  number  of  the  neighbors 

1  "Church  History,"  Vol.   I.,  p.   141. 

2  "Mormonism  Unveiled,"   p.    104. 

8H.  H.  Clapp,  in  a  letter  to  James  T.  Cobb,  of  Utah. 
*  "Church  History,"  Vol.  I.,  p.   169. 


130  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

of  the  Smiths  in  New  York,  who  declare  that  Rigdon 
did  know  of  Joseph  and  that  he  personally  visited  him 
before  the  year  1830. 

Mrs.  Horace  Eaton,  wife  of  Dr.  Horace  Eaton,  who, 
for  thirty-two  years,  had  been  a  resident  of  Palmyra  and 
who  had  heard  of  the  doings  of  the  Smith  family  from 
the  lips  of  their  acquaintances,  says,  in  a  paper  read  be-; 
fore  the  Union  Home  Missionary  Meeting  held  at  Buf-J 
falo,  New  York,  May  27,  1881 : 

Early  in  the  summer  of  1827,  a  "mysterious  stranger"  seeks 
admittance  to  Joe  Smith's  cabins  The  conferences  of  the  two 
are  most  private.  This  person,  whose  coming  immediately  pre- 
ceded a  new  departure  in  the  faith,  was  Sidney  Rigdon,  a  back- 
sliding clergyman,  at  this  time  a  Campbellite  preacher  in  Mentor, 
Ohio.1 

Pomeroy  Tucker,  a  neighbor  of  the  Smiths  and  one 
of  the  proof-readers  of  the  Book  of  Mormon,  says : 

A  mysterious  stranger  now  appears  at  Smith's  and  holds 
intercourse  with  the  famed  money-digger.  For  a  considerable 
time  no  intimation  of  the  name  or  purpose  of  this  stranger 
transpired  to  the  public,  not  even  to  Smith's  nearest  neighbors. 
It  was  observed  by  some  that  his  visits  were  frequently  repeated. 
The  sequel  of  the  intimacies  of  this  stranger  and  the  money- 
digger  will  sufficiently  appear  hereafter.  There  was  great  con- 
sternation when  the  118  pages  of  manuscript  were  stolen  from 
Harris,  for  it  seems  to  have  been  impossible,  for  some  unac- 
countable reason,  to  retranslate  the  stolen  portion.  The  reap- 
pearance of  this  mysterious  stranger  at  Smith's  at  this  juncture 
was  again  the  subject  of  inquiry  and  conjecture  by  observers, 
from  whom  was  withheld  all  explanations  of  his  identity  and 
purpose.  When  the  Book  of  Mormon  appeared,  Rigdon  was  an 
early  convert.  Up  to  this  time,  he  had  played  his  part  in  the 
background^  and  his  occasional  visits  to  Smith's  had  been  ob- 
served by  the  inhabitants  as  those  of  the  mysterious  stranger. 
It  had  been  his  policy  to  remain  in  concealment  until  all  things 
were  in  readiness  for  blowing  the  trumpet  of  the  new  gospel. 

1  "Hand-book   on   Mormonism,"  p.   3. 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  131 

He   now   came  to   the   front  as   the   first  regular   preacher  in 
Palmyra.1 

On  May  2,  1879,  Abel  D.  Chase,  another  neighbor 
of  the  Smiths,  signed  the  following  statement,  relative  to 
the  visits  of  Sidney  Rigdon  to  Palmyra  before  1830: 

PALMYRA,  Wayne  Co.,  N.  Y.,  May  2,  1879. 

I,  Abel  D.  Chase,  now  living  in  Palmyra,  Wayne  Co.,  N.  Y., 
make  the  following  statement  regarding  my  early  acquaintance 
with  Joseph  Smith  and  incidents  about  the  production  of  the 
so-called  Mormon  Bible.  I  was  well  acquainted  with  the  Smith 
family,  frequently  visiting  the  Smith  boys  and  they  me.  I  was 
a  youth  at  the  time  from  twelve  to  thirteen  years  old,  having 
been  born  Jan.  19,  1814,  at  Palmyra,  N.  Y.  During  some  of  my 
visits  at  the  Smiths,  I  saw  a  stranger  there  who  they  said  was 
Mr.  Rigdon.  He  was  at  Smith's  several  times,  and  it  was  in  the 
year  of  1827  when  I  first  saw  him  there,  as  near  as  I  can  recol- 
lect. Some  time  after  that  tales  were  circulated  that  young  Joe 
had  found  or  dug  from  the  earth  a  book  of  plates  which  the 
Smiths  called  the  Golden  Bible.  I  don't  think  Snrth  had  any 
such  plates.  He  was  mysterious  in  his  actions.  The  pecpstone, 
in  which  he  was  accustomed  to  look,  he  got  of  my  elder  brother 
Willard  while  at  work  for  us  digging  a  well.  It  was  a  singular- 
looking  stone  and  young  Joe  pretended  he  could  discover  hidden 
things  in  it. 

My  brother  Willard  Chase  died  at  Palmyra,  N.  Y.,  March 
10,  1871.  His  affidavit,  published  in  Howe's  "History  of  Mor- 
monism,"  is  genuine.  Peter  Ingersoll,  whose  affidavit  was  pub- 
lished in  the  same  book,  is  also  dead.  He  moved  West  years 
ago  and  died  about  two  years  ago.  Ingersoll  had  the  reputation 
of  being  a  man  of  his  word,  and  I  have  no  doubt  his  sworn  state- 
ment regarding  the  Smiths  and  the  Mormon  Bible  is  genuine. 
I  was  also  well  acquainted  with  Thomas  P.  Baldwin,  a  lawyer 
and  Notary  Public,  and  Frederick  Smith,  a  lawyer  and  magis- 
trate, before  whom  Chase's  and  Ingersoll's  depositions  were 
made,  and  who  were  residents  of  this  village  at  the  time  and  for 
several  years  after.  ABEL  D.  CHASE. 

Abel  D.  Chase  signed  the  above  statement  in  our  presence, 


1  "Braden-Kelley  Debate,"  p.  46. 


132  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN  OP 

and  he  is  known  to  us  and  the  entire  community  here  as  a  man 
whose  word  is  always  the  exact  truth  and  above  any  possible 
suspicion.  PLINY  T.  SEXTON. 

J.   H.  GILBERT.1 

I  now  have  the  pleasure  of  presenting  to  the  reader 
two  letters  touching  upon  this  point  that  have  never 
been  published  before.  The  first  of  these  was  written 
by  Mr.  Thomas  Gregg,  of  Hamilton,  Illinois,  the  author 
of  "The  Prophet  of  Palmyra;"  the  second  is  the  reply 
to  the  same,  written  by  Mr.  Lorenzo  Saunders,  of  Read- 
ing, Hillsdale  County,  Michigan,  who  was  an  intimate 
acquaintance  of  the  Smiths.  Mr.  Gregg  died  before  he 
had  the  opportunity  of  publishing  Mr.  Saunders'  letter, 
and  later  the  correspondence  was  turned  over  to  Mr.  R. 
B.  Neal,  of  Gray  son,  Kentucky,  secretary  of  the  Ameri- 
can Anti-Mormon  Association,  who  has  kindly  loaned 
these  documents  to  me  to  publish  in  this  book.  The 
letters  have  been  carefully  copied  from  their  originals 
and  appear  just  as  they  were  formerly  written,  except 
that  in  that  of  Saunders  a  number  of  errors  in  spelling, 
capitalization  and  punctuation  have  been  corrected. 
Saunders  was  an  aged  man,  and  this,  coupled  with  his 
poor  educational  advantages  as  a  boy,  accounts  for  the 
errors  which  appear.  I  regard  his  letter  as  one  of  the 
most  important  documents  which  we  have  bearing  on 
the  present  question. 

The  letter  of  Mr.  Gregg  is  as  follows : 

HAMILTON,  Hancock  Co.,  111.,  January  19,  1885. 
MR.  LORENZO  SAUNDERS, 

Dear  Sir: — Permit  me,  a  stranger,  to  "interview"  you  by 
letter.  Mr.  J.  H.  Gilbert,  of  Palmyra,  N.  Y.,  introduces  us.  He 
names  you  among  the  very  few  left,  who  know  something  about 


1  "Mormon  Portraits,"  p.  230. 


THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON  133 

the  origin  of  Mormonism,  and  the  life  and  career  of  Joe  Smith, 
the  pretended  Prophet.  I  am  engaged  on  a  work — mainly  a 
History  of  the  Mormon  Era  in  Illinois — but  with  which  I  wish 
to  incorporate  the  Rise  and  Progress  of  the  miserable  fraud  in 
and  about  Palmyra.  A  main  point  I  wish  to  investigate  is  as 
to  how  the  Spaulding  Manuscript  got  into  Smith's  hands  previous 
to  1829  when  the  B.  of  M.  was  first  printed.  Some  think  Cow- 
dery  was  the  medium — some  that  it  was  Rigdon.  Of  course,  it  is 
hard  to  remember  after  a  period  of  50  or  60  years,  little  occur- 
rences unimportant  at  the  time;  but  I  am  induced  to  apply  to 
you,  as  a  neighbor  of  the  Smiths,  hoping  you  may  be  able  to 
recall  events  that  may  help  me  out.  What  can  you  recall  of 
Cowdery's  career?  His  first  appearance  among  you — what  he 
was  doing — where  he  came  from — and  what  seemed  to  have 
brought  him  into  closer  relationship  with  Smith?  Also,  of 
Rigdon — Gilbert  says  it  is  thought  you  saw  him  once  at  Smith's. 
Can  you  be  sure  of  that?  and  whether  it  was  before  the  B.  of  M. 
was  printed?  Did  you  know  the  12  signers,  certifying  to  the 
Divine  origin  of  the  B.  of  M. — the  Whitmers — Harris — Hiram 
Page — and  all  the  Smiths — and  were  they  ignorant  or  sensible — 
learned  or  unlearned — and  did  they,  or  any  of  them,  seem  to 
adhere  to  Smith  while  he  was  digging  for  treasure,  &c.? 

You  see  I  can  chalk  out  a  great  variety  of  subjects  or  points 
on  which  I  want  information ;  but  I  might  cut  it  short  by  asking, 
in  general,  for  such  information  as  you  can  give  that  will  en- 
lighten the  public  on  the  Origin  of  Mormonism — and  more 
especially  its  connection  with  the  Rev.  Spaulding's  book.  Of 
course  you  are  an  aged  man — I  know  what  it  is  to  be  an  old 
man,  myself;  but  these  cold  winter  days,  we  can  do  little  else 
than  sit  in  the  house  and  read  and  write — and  perhaps  you  will 
be  able  to  find  time  to  reply  to  this,  and  thus  oblige  very  much, 
Your  friend  and  obt.  Ser.,  TH.  GREGG. 

P.  S.— -More  questions:  Did  you  ever  see,  or  try  to  see,  the 
pretended  plates,  or  how  Smith  acted  in  regard  to  them?  Or 
did  you  ever  see  the  hole  in  the  ground,  on  Cumorah  Hill,  in 
which  the  plates  were  found — or  was  there  ever  such  a  hole? 
Please  answer  on,  and  return  this  sheet,  and  if  not  enough  of 
paper,  add  to  it— I  will  pay  postage. 

In  reply  to  Mr.  Gregg's  letter,  Mr.  Saunders  wrote 
from  Reading,  Michigan,  as  follows: 


134  THE   TRUE  ORIGIN  OF 

READING,  January  28,  1885. 
MISTER  GREGG, 

Dear  Sir.  I  received  your  note  ready  at  hand  and  will  try 
(to)  answer  the  best  I  can  and  give  all  the  information  I  can  as 
respecting  Mormonism  and  the  first  origin.  As  respecting  Oliver 
Cowdery,  he  came  from  Kirtland  in  the  summer  of  1826  and 
was  about  there  until  fall  and  took  a  school  in  the  district  where 
the  Smiths  lived  and  the  next  summer  he  was  missing  and  I 
didn't  see  him  until  fall  and  he  came  back  and  took  our  school 
in  the  district  where  we  lived  and  taught  about  a  week  and  went 
to  the  schoolboard  and  wanted  the  board  to  let  him  off  and 
they  did  and  he  went  to  Smith  and  went  to  writing  the  Book 
of  Mormon  and  wrote  all  winter.  The  Mormons  say  it  want 
wrote  there  but  I  say  it  was  because  I  was  there.  I  saw  Sidney 
Rigdon  in  the  Spring  of  1827,  about  the  middle  of  March.  I 
went  to  Smiths  to  eat  maple  sugar,  and  I  saw  five  or  six  men 
standing  in  a  group  and  there  was  one  among  them  better 
dressed  than  the  rest  and  I  asked  Harrison  Smith  who  he  was 
(and)  he  said  his  name  was  Sidney  Rigdon,  a  friend  of  Joseph's 
from  Pennsylvania.  I  saw  him  in  the  Fall  of  1827  on  the  road 
between  where  I  lived  and  Palmyra,  with  Joseph.  I  was  with  a 
man  by  the  name  of  Jugegsah  (spelling  doubtful,  C.  A.  S.). 
They  talked  together  and  when  he  went  on  I  asked  Jugegsah 
(spelling  doubtful,  C.  A.  S.)  who  he  was  and  he  said  it  was 
Rigdon.  Then  in  the  summer  of  1828  I  saw  him  at  Samuel 
Lawrence's  just  before  harvest.  I  was  cutting1  corn  for  Law- 
rence and  went  to  dinner  and  he  took  dinner  with  us  and  when 
dinner  was  over  they  went  into  another  room  and  I  didn't  see 
him  again  till  he  came  to  Palmyra  to  preach.  You  want  to 
know  how  Smith  acted  about  it.  The  next  morning  after  he 
claimed  to  have  got  (the)  plates  he  came  to  our  house  and  said 
he  had  got  the  plates  and  what  a  struggle  he  had  in  getting 
home  with  them.  Two  men  tackled  him  and  he  fought  and 
knocked  them  both  down  and  made  his  escape  and  secured  the 
plates  and  had  them  safe  and  secure.  He  showed  his  thumb 
where  he  bruised  it  in  fighting  those  men.  After  (he)  went 
from  the  house,  my  mother  says,  "What  a  liar  Joseph  Smith  is; 
he  lies  every  word  he  says;  I  know  he  lies  because  he  looks  so 

1  He  probably  means  plowing  corn,  as  this  was  too  early  in  the  season 
for  the  other. 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  135 

guilty;  he  can't  see  out  of  his  eyes;  how  dare  (he)  tell  such 
a  lie  as  that."  The  time  he  claimed  to  have  taken  the  plates 
from  the  hill  was  on  the  22  day  of  September,  in  1827,  and  I 
went  on  the  next  Sunday  following  with  five  or  six  other  ones 
and  we  hunted  the  side  hill  by  course  and  could  not  find  no  place 
where  the  ground  had  been  broke.  There  was  a  large  hole 
where  the  money  diggers  had  dug  a  year  or  two  before,  but  no 
fresh  dirt.  There  never  was  such  a  hole;  there  never  was  any 
plates  taken  out  of  that  hill  nor  any  other  hill  in  that  county, 
was  in  Wayne  county.  It  is  all  a  lie.  No,  sir,  I  never  saw  the 
plates  nor  no  one  else.  He  had  an  old  glass  box  with  a  tile 
(spelling  doubtful,  C.  A.  S.)  in  it,  about  7x8  inches,  and  that 
was  the  gold  plates  and  Martin  Harris  didn't  know  a  gold  plate 
from  a  brick  at  this  time.  Smith  and  Rigdon  had  an  intimacy 
but  it  was  very  secret  and  still  and  there  was  a  mediator  between 
them  and  that  was  Cowdery.  The  Manuscripts  was  stolen  by 
Rigdon  and  modelled  over  by  him  and  then  handed  over  to  Cow- 
dery and  he  copied  them  and  Smith  sat  behind  the  curtain  and 
handed  them  out  to  Cowdery  and  as  fast  as  Cowdery  copied 
them,  they  was  handed  over  to  Martin  Harris  and  he  took  them 
to  Egbert  Granden,  the  one  who  printed  them,  and  Gilbert  set 
the  type.  I  never  knew  any  of  the  twelve  that  claimed  to  have 
seen  the  plates  except  Martin  Harris  and  the  Smiths.  I  knew 
all  of  the  Smiths,  they  had  not  much  learning,  they  was  poor 
scholars.  The  older  ones  did  adhere  (spelling  doubtful,  C.  A.  S.) 
to  Joseph  Smith.  He  had  a  peep  stone  he  pretended  to  see  in. 
He  could  see  all  the  hidden  treasures  in  the  ground  and  all  the 
stolen  property.  But  that  was  all  a  lie,  he  couldn't  see  nothing. 
He  was  an  impostor.  I  now  will  close.  I  don't  know  as  you 
can  read  this.  If  you  can,  please  excuse  my  bad  spelling  and 
mistakes.  Yours  With  Respect, 

From  LORENZO  SAUNDERS.* 

1  STATE  OF  NEBRASKA,  •» 
County  of  Dawson.    jss> 

Charles  A.  Shook,  being  duly  sworn  according  to  law,  deposeth  and 
saith  that  the  foregoing  letters  of  Thomas  Gregg  and  Lorenzo  Saunders 
are  verbatim  copies  (excepting  spelling,  punctuation  and  capitalization)  of 
the  originals  now  in  the  possession  of  the  American  Anti-Mormon  Associa- 
tion. CHARLES  A.  SHOOK. 

Subscribed  to  in  my  presence  and  sworn  to  before  me,  at  Eddyvillc, 
Nebraska,  this  i3th  day  of  February,  1913. 

B.  R.  HEDGLIN,  Notary  Public. 
(10) 


136  THE   TRUE  ORIGIN  OF 

The  following  deductions  from  Mr.  Saunders'  letter 
should  be  noted  by  the  reader : 

First,  Oliver  Cowdery  first  came  to  Palmyra  in  the 
summer  of  1826  instead  of  in  the  winter  of  1828-9,  as  the 
Mormons  claim. 

Secondly,  he  came  from  Kirtland,  Geauga  County, 
Ohio.  Rigdon  had  removed  to  the  same  county  the 
spring  before,  and  Cowdery  may  have  been  sent  by  him 
to  New  York  for  a  purpose.  • 

Thirdly,  part  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  was  written 
at  the  home  of  the  Smiths  near  Palmyra,  instead  of  all 
of  it  being  written  at  Harmony,  Pennsylvania,  and  Fay- 
ette,  New  York. 

Fourthly,  according  to  Saunders'  positive  knowledge, 
Rigdon  made  at  least  three  visits  to  Palmyra  before  1830: 
in  March,  1827 ;  in  the  fall  of  1827,  and  in  the  summer 
of  1828.  We  shall,  presently,  make  good  use  of  these 
dates. 

THE    MORMON   ALIBI. 

In  their  attempt  to  refute  the  testimony  just  given, 
the  Mormons  claim  that  the  distance  between  Mentor, 
Ohio,  where  Rigdon  resided,  and  Palmyra,  New  York, 
where  Smith  lived,  was  so  great  that,  in  those  days  of 
slow  locomotion,  it  would  have  been  impossible  for  Rig- 
don, who  was  so  burdened  with  the  arduous  duties  of  an 
active  minister,  to  have  visited  and  conferred  with  Smith 
as  charged.  On  this  point,  Elder  Heman  C.  Smith,  his- 
torian of  the  Reorganized  Church,  says : 

The  life  of  Sidney  Rigdon  was  that  of  an  active  minister, 
and  his  whereabouts  can  be  determined  by  public  records  so 
frequently  as  to  make  it  impossible  that  he  could  have  made  the 
long  and  tedious  journeys  to  New  York  (which  this  story  makes 
necessary)  for  the  purpose  of  conspiring  with  Joseph  Smith  in 
those  days  of  slow  transportation.— Church  History,  Vol.  i,  p.  145* 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  137 

But  this  position  is  wholly  untenable.  Sidney  Rigdon 
was  an  itinerant  preacher  and  did  just  what  Elder  Smith 
says  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  do ;  he  made  "long  and 
tedious  journeys."  And  the  fact  that  he  made  such  long 
and  tedious  journeys  is  to  be  found  largely  in  the  litera- 
ture of  the  Mormon  Church  itself.  In  May,  1819,  we 
find  him  moving  from  near  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  to 
Trumbull  County,  Ohio,  and  later  back  again.1  Next, 
we  find  him  on  a  mission  to  Kentucky  with  his  brother- 
in-law,  Adamson  Bentley.*  In  the  spring  of  1826,  he  re- 
moved to  Geauga  County,  Ohio,  and  located  at  Bain- 
bridge.8  After  this,  we  hear  of  him  at  Mentor,  Perry, 
Austintown,  Shalersville,  New  Lisbon  and  Warren, 
Ohio,  and  in  May  or  June,  1830,  in  Pennsylvania.*  All 
of  these  movements  occurred  before  he  became  a 
Mormon. 

After  his  pretended  conversion,  we  find  him  going 
straight  to  Waterloo,  New  York,  to  confer  with  Smith 
and  to  return  with  him  two  months  later.  In  company 
with  Joseph  Smith  and  Freeman  Nickerson,  in  the  fall  of 
1833,  ne  went  on  a  mission  to  Canada,  where  he  labored 
one  month.  In  the  summer  and  fall  of  1836,  we  find  him 
in  the  Eastern  States  with  Joseph  Smith,  Hyrttm  Smith 
and  Oliver  Cowdery.  And  last,  but  not  least,  we  are  told 
that  between  the  years  1831  and  1838,  he  made  four  trips 
to  Missouri,  a  distance  of  not  less  than  eight  hundred 
miles.6  As  Palmyra,  New  York,  is  only  252  miles  from 
Mentor,  Ohio,  over  the  L.  S.  &  M.  S.  and  N.  Y.  C. 
&  H.  R.  Railroads,  and  as  Rigdon  was  accustomed  to 
long  and  frequent  moves,  the  distance  would  not  have 

1  "Church  History,"  Vol.   I.,  p.    130. 

a  "History  of  the  Disciples  in  the  Western  Reserve,"  p.  19. 

8  "History  of  the  Disciples,"  p.    191. 

*  See  testimony  of  Dr.  Rosa. 

B  "Journal  of  History,"  July,    1910,   pp.   279-286. 


138  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN  OP 

made  it  impossible  for  him  to  have  conferred  with  Smith 
before  1830. 

But,  says  the  Mormon  objector,  even  if  what  you 
say  is  true,  it  would  have  required  time  for  Rigdon  to 
have  made  such  visits,  and  we  have  his  whereabouts  de- 
termined by  public  records  so  frequently  that  this  element 
is  wanting  and  thus  the  impossibility  still  remains.  Very 
well,  then,  let  us  examine  the  alibi. 

The  following  list  of  events  and  dates  has  been  com- 
piled by  Elder  E.  L.  Kelley,  of  the  Reorganized  Church, 
from  court  records  and  historical  and  personal  sources, 
and  arranged  as  I  give  it,  by  Elder  Heman  C.  Smith,  of 
the  same  church,  and  published  in  the  Josephite  "Journal 
of  History,"  Vol.  III.,  No.  i,  pages  16-20.  This  list  is 
said  to  cover  the  movements  of  Rigdon  from  November 
2,  1826,  to  November  14,  1830,  so  thoroughly  and  fully 
that  no  opening  is  left  to  slip  in  spaces  of  time  sufficiently 
lengthy  for  him  to  visit  Palmyra,  New  York,  before  his 
conversion  in  1830. 

STATE  OF  OHIO,  ") 
Geauga  County,  j 

This  is  to  certify  that  I  solemnized  the  marriage  contract 
between  John  G.  Smith  and  Julia  Giles,  on  the  second  of  Novem- 
ber, 1826,  agreeable  to  license  obtained  from  court  of  said  county. 

SIDNEY  RIGDON. 

EDWARD  PAINE,  Jun.,  Clerk  Com.  Pleas. 
Recorded  the  I3th  of  Dec.,  1826. 


January,  1827.  Elder  Rigdon  held  public  meetings  in  Mantua, 
Ohio.  (Hayden's  History  of  the  Disciples  of  the  Western  Re- 
serve.)   

February,  1827.  Preached  funeral  discourse  of  Hannah  Tan- 
ner, Chester,  Ohio.  (Authenticated  by  Henry  Tanner.) 


March  and  April,  1827.    Held  protracted  meetings  at  Mentor, 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  139 

Ohio;  baptizing  Nancy  M.  Sanforcl,  William  Dunson  and  wife, 
and  others.     (Evidence  by  Nancy  M.  Sanford,  Mantua,  Ohio.) 

STATE  OF  OHIO,  ") 
Geauga  County,  j 

This  is  to  certify  that  on  the  fifth  day  of  June,  1827,  in  the 
village  of  Painesville,  I  solemnized  the  marriage  contract  be- 
tween Theron  Freeman  and  Elizabeth  Waterman,  agreeable  to 
license  obtained  from  the  clerk  of  the  court  of  said  county. 

SIDNEY  RIGDON. 

EDWARD  PAINE,  Jun.,  Clerk  Com.  Pleas. 
Recorded  June  7,  1827. 


June  15,  1827.    Baptized  Thomas  Clapp,  and  others,  Mentor, 
Ohio.    Personal  testimony  of  Henry  H.  Clapp,  Mentor,  Ohio. 


STATE  OF  OHIO, 
Geauga  County. 

This  is  to  certify  that  I  solemnized  the  marriage  contract 
between  James  Gray  and  Mary  Kerr,  in  township  of  Mentor, 
on  the  3d  of  July,  1827.  SIDNEY  RIGDON. 

EDWARD  PAINE,  Jun.,  Clerk  Com.  Pleas. 

Recorded  July  12,  1827. 


STATE  OF  OHIO,  | 
Geauga  County.  j 

This  is  to  certify  that  on  the  ipth  of  July,  1827,  I  solemnized 
the  marriage  contract  in  the  township  of  Kirtland,  between 
Alden  Snow  and  Ruth  Parker,  agreeably  to  license  obtained  from 
clerk  of  the  court  of  the  said  county.  SIDNEY  RIGDON. 

EDWARD  PAINE,  Jun.,  Clerk  Com.  Pleas. 

Recorded  August  io,  1827. 


August  23,   1827.     Elder  Rigdon   met  with   the   Ministerial 
Association  of  the  Western  Reserve  at  New  Lisbon,  Ohio. 


STATE  OF  OHIO, 
Geauga  County, 

This  is  to  certify  that  I  solemnized  the  marriage  contract  on 
the  Qth  of  October,  1827,  in  the  township  of  Mentor,  between 


140  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

Stephen  Sherman  and  Wealthy  Mathews,  agreeably  to  license 
obtained  from  the  clerk  of  court  of  said  county. 

SIDNEY  RIGDON. 

EDWARD  PAINE,  Jun.,  Clerk  Com.  Pleas. 
Recorded  October  27,  1827. 


October  20,  1827.  A  member  of  the  ministerial  council  at 
Warren,  Ohio. 

November,  1827.  Held  a  series  of  meetings  at  New  Lisbon, 
Ohio. 

STATE  OF  OHIO,  )  sg 
Geauga  County.  J 

This  is  to  certify  that  I  solemnized  the  marriage  contract 
between  Alvin  Wait  and  Sophia  Gunn,  on  the  6th  of  Dec.,  1827, 
in  the  township  of  Kirtland,  agreeably  to  license  obtained  from 
the  clerk  of  the  court  of  said  county. 

SIDNEY  RIGDON. 

EDWARD  PAINE,  Jun.,  Clerk  Com.  Pleas. 
Recorded  December  12,  1827. 


STATE  OF  OHIO, 
Geauga  County. 

This  is  to  certify  that  I  solemnized  the  marriage  contract 
between  Roswell  D.  Cottrell  and  Matilda  Olds,  in  the  township 
of  Concord,  on  the  I3th  day  of  December,  1827,  agreeably  to 
license  obtained  from  the  clerk  of  court  of  said  county. 

SIDNEY  RIGDON. 

EDWARD  PAINE,  Jun.,  Clerk  Com.  Pleas. 
Recorded  January  8,  1828. 


STATE  OF  OHIO,  1 
Geauga  County,  j 

This  is  to  certify  that  I  solemnized  the  marriage  contract 
between  Otis  Harrington  and  Lyma  Corning,  in  the  township  of 
Mentor,  on  the  I4th  of  February,  1828,  agreeably  to  license 
obtained  from  the  clerk  of  the  court  of  said  county. 

SIDNEY  RIGDON. 

EDWARD  PAINE,  Jun.,  Clerk  Com.  Pleas. 
Recorded  March  31,  1828. 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  141 

March,  1828.  Instructor  of  a  class  in  theology  at  Mentor, 
Ohio ;  and  also  held  a  series  of  meetings  at  Mentor  and  Warren, 
Ohio.  Zebulon  Rudolph,  afterwards  an  elder  in  the  Disciples 
Church,  was  a  member  of  this  class  in  theology,  with  others. 
He  became  a  man  of  note  in  the  Western  Reserve. 


April,  1828.     Elder  Rigdon  conducted  a  great  religious  re- 
vival at  Kirtland,  Ohio. 


May,  1828.    He  meets  with  Alexander  Campbell  at  Shaler- 
ville,  Ohio,  and  held  a  protracted  meeting  at  that  place. 


June,  1828.    Elder  Rigdon  baptized  Henry  H.  Clapp  at  Men- 
tor, Ohio. 


August,  1828.    Attended  great  yearly  association  at  Warren, 
Ohio. 


STATE  OF  OHIO,  ) 
Geauga  County.  J 

This  is  to  certify  that  I  solemnized  the  marriage  contract 
between  Luther  Dille  and  Clarissa  Kent,  in  the  township  of 
Mentor,  on  the  7th  day  of  September,  1828,  agreeably  to  license 
obtained  from  the  clerk  of  the  court  of  said  county. 

SIDNEY  RIGDON. 

D.  D.  AIKEN,  Clerk  Com.  Pleas. 
Recorded  October  13,  1828. 


STATE  OF  OHIO,  1 
Geauga  County,  j  S! 

This  is  to  certify  that  I  solemnized  the  marriage  contract 
between  Nachor  Corning  and  Phebe  E.  Wilson,  in  the  township 
of  Mentor,  on  the  i8th  day  of  September,  1828,  agreeably  to 
license  obtained  from  the  clerk  of  the  court  of  said  county. 

SIDNEY  RIGDON. 

D.  D.  AIKEN,  Clerk  Com.  Pleas. 
Recorded  October  13,  1828. 


142  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN  OP 

STATE  OF  OHIO, 


Geauga  County. 

This  is  to  certify  that  I  solemnized  the  marriage  contract 
between  Albert  Churchill  and  Anna  Fosdick  on  the  ist  of 
January,  1829,  in  the  township  of  Concord,  agreeably  to  license 
obtained  from  the  clerk  of  the  court  of  said  county. 

SIDNEY  RIGDON. 

D.  D.  AIKEN,  Clerk  of  Com.  Pleas. 
Recorded  February  12,  1829. 


STATE  OF  OHIO,  ) 
Geauga  County.  J 

This  is  to  certify  that  I  solemnized  the  marriage  contract 
between  Erastus  Root  and  Rebecca  Tuttle  on  the  ist  day  of 
February,  1829,  in  the  township  of  Mentor,  agreeably  to  a  license 
obtained  from  clerk  of  court  of  said  county. 

SIDNEY  RIGDON. 

D.  D.  AIKEN,  Clerk  of  Com.  Pleas. 
Recorded  February  12,  1829. 


March,  1829.    Protracted  meeting,  Mentor,  Ohio. 


April  12,  1829.    Protracted  meeting  at  Kirtland,  Ohio. 


Lyman  Wight,  in  his  private  journal,  says:  "I  resided  in 
this  place  (Warrensville,  Ohio)  till  1829,  about  the  month  of 
May,  when  I  heard  Sidney  Rigdon  preach  what  was  then  called 
Rigdonite  doctrine.  After  hearing  him  go  through  the  principle 
of  baptism  for  the  remission  of  sins,  I  went  forward  and  was 
baptized  by  his  hands. 


July  I,  1829.    Organized  church  at  Perry,  Ohio. 


In  the  journal  of  Lyman  Wight,  he  writes  August  (same 
year)  :  "My  wife  was  baptized  together  with  John  Murdock  and 
many  others  by  Sidney  Rigdon." 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  143 

STATE  OF  OHIO,  ) 
Geauga  County.  J 

This  is  to  certify  that  I  solemnized  the  marriage  contract 
between  John  Strong  and  Ann  Eliza  More,  on  the  I3th  of 
August,  1829,  in  the  township  of  Kirtland,  agreeably  to  license 
obtained  from  clerk  of  court  of  said  county. 

SIDNEY  RIGDON. 

D.  D.  AIKEN,  Clerk  of  Com.  Pleas. 
Recorded  September  14,  1829. 


STATE  OF  OHIO, 
Geauga  County. 

This  is  to  certify  that  I  solemnized  the  marriage  contract 
between  Darwin  At  water  and  Harriett  Clapp,  on  the  I4th  day  of 
September,  1829,  in  the  township  of  Mentor,  agreeably  to  license 
obtained  from  clerk  of  said  county.  SIDNEY  RIGDON. 

D.  D.  AIKEN,  Clerk  of  Com.  Pleas. 

Recorded  October  7,  1829. 


September,  1829.  Series  of  meetings  at  Mentor,  Ohio,  bap- 
tizing J.  J.  Moss,  who  was  afterwards  Disciple  minister  of  some 
note. 


STATE  OF  OHIO, 


Geauga  County,  j 

This  is  to  certify  that  I  solemnized  the  marriage  contract 
between  Joel  Roberts  and  Relief  Bates,  on  the  ist  of  October, 
1829,  in  the  township  of  Perry,  agreeably  to  license  obtained 
from  clerk  of  court  of  said  county.  SIDNEY  RIGDON. 

D.  D.  AIKEN,  Clerk  of  Com.  Pleas. 

Recorded  October  7,  1829. 


October,  1829.    At  Perry,  Ohio. 


November,  1829.     Held  meetings  at  Wait  Hill,, Ohio;  bap- 
tizing Alvin  Wait. 

STATE  OF  OHIO,    | 
Cuyahoga  County,  j 

This  certifies  that  I  solemnized  the  marriage  contract  be- 
tween David  Chandler  and  Polly  Johnson  in  the  township  of 


144  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

Chagrin  on  the  31  st  day  of  December,  one  thousand,  eight  hun- 
dred and  twenty-nine,  agreeably  to  license  obtained  from  the 
clerk  of  the  court  of  said  county.  SIDNEY  RIGDON, 

Pastor  Baptist  Church  in  Mentor,  Geauga  Co.,  Ohio. 
Filed  and  Recorded  January  12,  1830. 


March,  1830.    At  Mentor,  Ohio. 


June  i  to  30.    At  Mentor,  Ohio. 


July,   1830.     Protracted  meeting  at  Pleasant  Valley,  Ohio; 
baptized  forty-five. 


August,    1830.     With   Alexander   Campbell   at   Austintown, 
Ohio. 


STATE  OF  OHIO, 
Geauga  County.     S' 

This  certifies  that  I  married  Lev/is  B.  Wood  to  Laura  Cleave- 
land  in  Kirtland  Township,  on  the  4th  of  November,  1830. 

SIDNEY  RIGDON. 

D.  D.  AIKEN,  Clerk  of  Com.  Pleas. 
Recorded  November  n,  1830. 


Lyman  Wight  states  that  "my  Family  and  myself  were  bap- 
tized on  November  14,  1830."  And  his  widow  states  that  she 
distinctly  remembers  that  Rigdon  was  baptized  on  the  same  day. 

This  is  the  alibi  by  which  our  Mormon  friends  seek 
so  zealously  to  combat  and  overthrow  the  testimonies  of 
Smith's  neighbors.  But,  giving  them  every  date,  and 
this  includes  the  dates  of  the  recording  of  the  various 
marriage  certificates  which  probably  would  not  have  re- 
quired the  personal  presence  of  Rigdon  either  at  court  or 
at  any  other  particular  place,  and  we  have  them  "beaten 
to  a  frazzle."  Their  alibi  is  so  full  of  great  gaps  (and 
these  occur  right  at  the  very  times  when  our  witnesses 


THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON 


145 


declare  that  Rigdon  was  in  Palmyra)  that  it  is  not  only 
worthless  as  evidence  to  the  Mormons,  but  is  of  positive 
value  to  their  opponents.  I  now  submit  the  list  of  dates 
and  events  arranged  in  simpler  form  and  with  the  wide 
gaps  of  time  indicated,  so  that  the  reader  can  readily  dis- 
cover the  weakness  of  this  alibi  as  evidence  to  those  who 
seek  by  it  to  prove  that  Sidney  Rigdon  could  not  have 
been  in  New  York  between  the  years  1826  and  1830. 


•VINT 


1826 
1826 
1827 
1827 

1827 
1827 

1827 
1827 
1827 
1827 
1827 
1827 
1827 
1827 

1827 
1827 
1827 
1827 
1827 
1827 
1827 
1828 
1828 
1828 
1828 


Nov. 
Dec. 
Jan. 
Feb. 

Mar. 
Apr. 

June 
June 
June 
July 
July 
July 
Aug. 
Aug. 

Oct. 

Oct. 

Oct. 

Nov. 

Dec. 

Dec. 

Dec. 

Jan. 

Feb. 

Mar. 

Mar. 


2 
13 


5 
7 
15 
3 

12 

19 

IO 

23 

9 

20 
27 

6 

12 

13 

8 
14 


Marriage  of  Smith  and  Giles. 
Above  marriage  recorded. 
Held  meeting  at  Mantua,  O. 
Funeral  of  Hannah  Tanner,  Chester,  O. 

(Gap  of  about  one  month.) 
Held  meeting  at  Mentor,  O. 
Held  meeting  at  Mentor,  O. 

(Gap  of  possibly  month  and  a  half.) 
Marriage  of  Freeman  and  Waterman. 
Above  marriage  recorded. 
Baptized  Thomas  Clapp  at  Mentor,  O. 
Marriage  of  Gray  and  Kerr. 
Above  marriage  recorded. 
Marriage  of  Snow  and  Parker. 
Above  marriage  recorded. 
Met  with  Ministerial  Asso.,  New  Lisbon,  O. 

(Gap  of  one  month  and  seventeen  days.) 
Marriage  of  Sherman  and  Mathews. 
At  Ministerial  Council,  Warren,  O. 
Marriage  of  Sherman  and  Mathews  recorded. 
Held  meeting  at  New  Lisbon,  O. 
Marriage  of  Wait  and  Gunn. 
Above  marriage  recorded. 
Marriage  of  Cottrell  and  Olds. 
Above  marriage  recorded. 
Marriage  of  Herrington  and  Coming. 
Above  marriage  recorded. 
Instructed  theological  class,  Mentor,  O, 


146 


THE   TRUE  ORIGIN  OF 


ri 
• 
> 
* 

I 

0 

> 
H 

EVENT 

1828 

Apr. 

Conducted  revival  at  Kirtland,  O. 

1828 

May 

Met  Campbell  at  Shalersville. 

1828 

June 

Baptized  H.  H.  Clapp,  Mentor,  O. 

(Gap  of  possibly  two  months.) 

1828 

Aug. 

At  Association,  Warren,  O. 

1828 

Sept. 

7 

Marriage  of  Dille  and  Kent. 

1828 

Sept. 

18 

Marriage  of  Corning  and  Wilson. 

1828 

Oct. 

13 

Above  marriages  recorded. 

(Gap  of  two  months  and  a  half.) 

1829 

Jan. 

i 

Marriage  of  Churchill  and  Fosdick. 

1829 

Feb. 

i 

Marriage  of  Root  and  Tuttle. 

1829 

Feb. 

12 

Above  marriages  recorded. 

1829 

Mar. 

Meeting  at  Mentor,  O. 

1829 

Apr. 

12 

Meeting  at  Kirtland,  O. 

1829 

May 

.  . 

Baptized  Lyman  Wight. 

(Gap  of  possibly  one  month  and  a  half.) 

1829 

July 

I 

Organized  church  at  Perry,  O. 

1829 

Aug. 

Baptized  Mrs.  Lyman  Wight. 

1829 

Aug. 

13 

Marriage  of  Strong  and  More. 

1829 

Sept. 

14 

Above  marriage  recorded. 

1829 

Sept. 

14 

Marriage  of  Atwater  and  Clapp. 

1829 

Sept. 

.  . 

Held  meeting  at  Mentor,  Ohio. 

1829 

Oct. 

I 

Marriage  of  Roberts  and  Bates. 

1829 

Oct. 

7 

The  last  two  marriages  recorded. 

1829 

Oct. 

At  Perry,  O. 

1829 

Nov. 

Held  meeting  at  Wait  Hill,  O. 

1829 

Dec. 

31 

Marriage  of  Chandler  and  Johnson. 

1830 

Jan. 

12 

Above  marriage  recorded. 

(Gap  of  possibly  two  months.) 

1830 

Mar. 

At  Mentor,  O. 

(Gap  of  two  months.) 

1830 

June 

.  . 

At  Mentor,  O. 

1830 

July 

.  . 

Held  meeting  at  Pleasant  Valley,  O. 

1830 

Aug. 

Met  Campbell  at  Austintown,  O. 

(Gap  of  easily  two  and  a  half  months.) 

1830 

Nov. 

4 

Marriage  of  Wood  and  Cleaveland. 

1830 

Nov. 

II 

Above  marriage  recorded. 

1830 

Nov. 

14 

Rigdon  baptized  by  Cowdery. 

THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  147 

In  this  alibi,  we  have  nine  wide  gaps,  of  over  a  month 
in  each,  in  which  the  whereabouts  of  Rigdon  is  not  ac- 
counted for,  and  some  of  them  occurring  at  the  very 
times  when  the  old  citizens  of  Palmyra  say  that  he  was 
in  New  York  conferring  with  Smith.  Three  of  these 
gaps  occur  in  the  year  1827,  two  in  1828,  one  in  1829  and 
three  in  1830. 

As  Rigdon  lived  only  252  miles  from  Palmyra,  if  he 
traveled  at  the  rate  of  fifty  miles  a  day,  which  was  less 
than  the  ordinary  distance  traveled  by  stage  in  those  days,1 
it  would  have  required  five  days  to  go  and  five  days  to 
return,  so  in  all  our  calculations  concerning  Rigdon's 
visits  to  New  York,  we  must  make  an  allowance  of  ten 
days  for  time  spent  on  the  road. 

Again,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  it  would  have  been 
necessary  for  his  visits  to  have  been  of  extraordinary 
lengths,  for,  according  to  the  generally  accepted  theory, 
the  "Manuscript  Found"  had  been  thoroughly  worked 
over  and  was  ready  for  transcription  before  it  passed 
out  of  Rigdon's  hands.  This  would  make  his  presence 
necessary  only  as  an  adviser,  and  this  would  require  him 
being  there  only  a  few  days  at  most.  So,  the  time  it 
took  to  go  to  Palmyra  and  to  return,  with  sufficient  time 
for  a  reasonable  visit,  could  be  easily  included  within  one 
month.  Rigdon  could,  therefore,  have  been  in  Palmyra, 
New  York,  a  dozen  times  between  the  years  1826  and 
1830  and  still  the  list  of  dates  and  events  as  given  by 
Elders  Kelley  and  Smith  remain  intact. 

1  An  ex-stage-driver  here  in  Nebraska  tells  me  that  he  used  to  make 
seventy-five  miles  a  day,  but  the  roads  were  probably  better  than  in  New 
York  and  Ohio.  However,  fifty  miles  a  day  was  easily  made.  When 
Rigdon  left  Kirtland  in  January,  1838,  he  went  at  the  rate  of  sixty  miles 
in  ten  hours  ("Church  History,"  2:  136),  and  David  Whitmer,  at  the  time 
that  he  went  to  Harmony,  Pennsylvania,  for  Smith,  in  1829,  took  just  two. 
days  to  make  the  distance  of  135  miles  ("Mother  Lucy,"  p.  162). 


148  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

The  date  when  Rigdon  first  met  Smith  is  not  known 
and  never  will  be  definitely  known,  but  a  statement  in 
Mother  Lucy's  "Joseph  Smith  and  His  Progenitors"  (ed. 
1908),  page  101,  raises  a  strong  suspicion  that  it  was  late 
in  1824  or  early  in  1825.  She  says : 

Shortly  after  the  death  of  Alvin,  a  man  commenced  laboring 
in  the  neighborhood,  to  effect  a  union  of  the  different  churches, 
in  order  that  all  might  be  agreed,  and  thus  worship  God  with 
one  heart  and  with  one  mind. 

Alvin  died  in  November,  1824.  Rigdon  had  left  the 
Baptist  Church  in  August  preceding,  according  to  his 
own  account,  and  had  become  identified  with  Campbell 
in  preaching  the  doctrine,  which  might,  in  the  colloquial 
of  the  common  people,  be  defined  as  "a  union  of  the  dif- 
ferent churches,  in  order  that  all  might  be  agreed,  and 
thus  worship  God  with  one  heart  and  one  mind."  Rela- 
tively speaking,  there  were  but  few  ministers  preaching 
this  doctrine  at  that  time,  and  it  should  not  surprise  us 
if  Rigdon  were  the  "man"  who  came  to  the  Smith  neigh- 
borhood soon  after  Alvin's  death,  and  that  this  event 
marked  his  first  contact  with  his  "prophet,"  Joseph  Smith, 

But,  permitting  the  reader  to  accept  this  inference  for 
what  it  is  worth,  we  pass  on  to  surer  ground.  Lorenzo 
Saunders  declares  that  he  saw  Rigdon  at  Palmyra  three 
times  before  1830:  in  the  middle  of  March,  1827;  in  the 
fall  of  1827,  and  in  the  summer  of  1828.  On  the  last 
visit,  Pomeroy  Tucker  agrees  with  Saunders,  while  Zeb- 
ulon  Rudolph,  father-in-law  of  President  Garfield,  sup- 
plies us  with  information  which  would  seem  to  establish 
a  later  visit,  during  the  early  part  of  the  year  1830.  Let 
us  now  consider  the  circumstances  which  might  have  re- 
quired the  presence  of  Rigdon  at  Palmyra  at  the  different 
times  specified. 

In  the  present  consideration,  we  shall  move  upon  the 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  140 

theory  that  Sidney  Rigdon  was  the  "angel"  that  ap- 
peared to  Joseph  Smith.  Angels,  in  Mormon  theology, 
are  simply  exalted  men,1  and,  according  to  Oliver  Cow- 
dery,  the  voice  of  the  "angel  of  God,"  who  spoke  to 
himself  and  Smith  at  the  time  of  their  baptism,  did  "most 
mysteriously  resemble  the  voice  of  Elder  Sidney  Rigdon." 
Therefore,  I  believe  that  if  we  put  the  appearance  of 
Sidney  Rigdon  at  those  points  in  Mormon  history  wher- 
ever "angels"  appear,  we  will  have  established  a  number 
of  historical  facts. 

Saunders  says  that  he  first  saw  Rigdon  at  the  Smiths 
in  the  middle  of  March,  1827.  He  tells  us  that  he  was 
there  to  eat  maple  sugar,  and  saw  a  group  of  five  or  six 
men  (probably  the  "Gold  Bible  Company"),  and  that 
Harrison  Smith  told  him  that  one  of  them,  better  dressed 
than  the  rest,  was  Sidney  Rigdon,  a  friend  of  Joseph's 
from  Pennsylvania.  In  the  month  of  February  of  that 
year,  Rigdon  preached  the  funeral  sermon  of  Hannah 
Tanner,  of  Chester,  Ohio,  and  in  the  following  month  of 
March  commenced  a  series  of  meetings  at  Mentor.  After 
the  funeral  of  the  Tanner  woman,  he  could  easily  have 
found  time  to  go  to  Palmyra,  play  the  "angel  stunt"  and 
then  return  in  time  for  the  Mentor  meeting.  And, 
strange  to  say,  according  to  Mother  Lucy's  account,1  the 
"angel"  did  appear  to  Joseph  about  this  time.  In  Jan- 
uary, 1827,  Joseph  had  returned  with  his  wife  from 
Pennsylvania,  "in  good  health  and  fine  spirits."  Some 
time  after  this,  his  father  had  occasion,  one  morning,  to 
send  him  to  Manchester.  Joseph  did  not  return  until 
nearly  six  o'clock  in  the  evening,  and  when  his  father 
asked  the  reason,  he  replied  that  he  had  taken  the  worst 

1  "Gods,  angels  and  men  are  all  of  one  species,  one  race,  one  great 
family." — Key  to  Theology,  p.  33. 

'"Joseph  Smith  and  His  Progenitors,"  p.  112. 


150  THE  TRUE  ORIGIN  OP 

chastisement  that  he  had  ever  received  in  his  life.  Smith, 
senior,  supposing  that  the  chastisement  had  been  given  at 
the  hands  of  some  of  the  neighbors,  was  very  angry,  but 
Joseph  quieted  him  and  said  that  "it  was  the  angel  of  the 
Lord :  as  I  passed  by  the  Hill  Cumorah,  where  the  plates 
are,  the  angel  met  me,  and  said  that  I  had  not  been  en- 
gaged enough  in  the  work  of  the  Lord ;  that  the  time  had 
come  for  the  record  to  be  brought  forth ;  and  that  I  must 
be  up  and  doing,  and  set  myself  about  the  things  which 
God  had  commanded  me  to  do."  Sure,  Joseph  had  not 
been  paying  enough  attention  to  business,  but,  instead,  he 
had  been  down  to  Harmony,  Pennsylvania,  stealing  a 
wife  and,  because  of  the  opposition  of  her  people,  had 
some  notion  of  throwing  up  his  prophetic  office  and 
working  for  a  living,  and  "angel"  Rigdon,  after  he  had 
preached  Hannah  Tanner's  funeral  sermon,  had  just 
quietly  slipped  over  into  New  York  to  see  about  it  and 
give  him  a  chastisement.  Joseph  said  further:  "But, 
father,  give  yourself  no  uneasiness  concerning  the  repri- 
mand that  I  have  received,  for  I  know  the  course  that  I 
am  to  pursue,  so  all  will  be  well."  The  course  that  he 
was  to  pursue  was  to  continue  to  do  as  he  had  been  doing 
in  deceiving  the  people  by  getting  them  ready  for  the 
springing  of  the  great  "Latter-day  Swindle." 

The  second  time  that  Saunders  saw  Rigdon  at  Pal- 
myra was  in  the  fall  of  1827.  What  occurred  in  the  fall 
of  1827?  On  the  22d  of  September  of  that  year,  Joseph 
Smith  claimed  to  receive  the  plates,  and  it  was  necessary 
again  for  "angel"  Rigdon,  alias  Moroni,  to  be  present. 
And  the  Mormon  alibi  is  deficient  at  this  point,  for,  be- 
tween August  23  and  October  9,  1827,  we  have  a  gap  of 
one  month  and  seventeen  days  in  which  it  does  not  ac- 
count for  Rigdon's  whereabouts. 

The  third  visit  of  Rigdon  to  Palmyra,  that  Saunders 


THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON  151 

mentions,  was  in  the  summer  of  1828,  just  before  harvest. 
Tucker  seems,  also,  to  have  known  something  about  this 
visit,  as  he  speaks  of  Rigdon  being  at  the  Smiths  soon 
after  the  116  pages  of  manuscript  were  destroyed  by  Mrs. 
Harris.  This  occurred  in  the  month  of  June,  and  again 
we  have  the  alibi  coinciding  with  the  testimony  of 
Saunders  and  also  with  the  testimony  of  Pomeroy 
Tucker.  Between  the  months  of  June  and  August,  1828, 
there  are  weeks  in  which  no  light  is  thrown  upon  the 
movements  of  Rigdon  by  the  Mormon  alibi. 

Lastly,  we  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  Rigdon 
and  Smith  were  together  during  the  winter  preceding 
the  publication  of  the  Book  of  Mormon.  Zebulon  Ru- 
dolph says : 

During  the  winter  previous  to  the  appearance  of  the  Book 
of  Mormon,  Rigdon  was  in  the  habit  of  spending  weeks  away 
from  home,  going  no  one  knew  whither.  He  often  appeared 
preoccupied  and  he  would  indulge  in  dreamy,  visionary  talks, 
which  puzzled  those  who  listened.  When  the  Book  of  Mormon 
appeared  and  Rigdon  joined  in  the  advocacy  of  the  new  religion 
the  suspicion  was  at  once  aroused  that  he  was  one  of  the  framers 
of  the  new  doctrine,  and  that  probably  he  was  not  ignorant  of 
the  authorship  of  the  Book  of  Mormon. 

Between  December  31,  1829,  and  the  month  of  March, 
1830,  the  alibi  does  not  give  us  a  single  clue  as  to  the 
movements  of  Rigdon  except  mentioning  the  fact  that  on 
January  12,  1830,  the  certificate  of  the  marriage  between 
David  Chandler  and  Polly  Johnson  was  recorded. 

By  the  facts  that  I  have  just -given,  I  believe  that  it  is 
positively  proved  that  Sidney  Rigdon  was  in  Palmyra, 
New  York,  at  least  four  times  before  he  openly  became 
a  Mormon:  in  March,  1827;  in  September,  1827;  in  June, 
1828,  and  in  the  winter  of  1830.* 

1  On   May    15,    1829,   "John  the   Baptist,"   whose   voice,   Cowdery   says, 
"did  most  mysteriously   resemble   the   voice   of  Elder   Sidney   Rigdon,"   ap- 
(11) 


152  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

THE   AFFIDAVIT   OF   KATHERINE   SALISBURY. 

Katharine  Salisbury  was  a  sister  of  Joseph  Smith. 
In  the  year  1881,  she  made  the  following  sworn  state- 
ment, in  which  she  certifies  that  Sidney  Rigdon  never 
was,  to  her  knowledge,  in  the  home  of  her  parents  until 
after  his  conversion  to  Mormonism  in  November,  1830. 

STATE  OF  ILLINOIS,  } 
Kendall  County.    )  SS* 

I,  Katherine  Salisbury,  being  duly  sworn,  depose  and  say, 
that  I  am  a  resident  of  the  state  of  Illinois,  and  have  been  for 
forty  years  last  past;  that  I  will  be  sixty-eight  years  of  age, 
July  28th,  1881. 

That  I  am  a  daughter  of  Joseph  Smith,  Senior,  and  sister  to 
Joseph  Smith,  Jr.,  the  translator  of  the  Book  of  Mormon.  That 
at  the  time  the  said  book  was  published,  I  was  seventeen  years 
of  age;  that  at  the  time  of  the  publication  of  said  book,  my 
brother,  Joseph  Smith,  Jr.,  lived  in  the  family  of  my  father,  in 
the  town  of  Manchester,  Ontario  county,  New  York,  and  that  he 
had  all  of  his  life  to  this  time  made  his  home  with  the  family. 

That  at  the  time,  and  for  years  prior  thereto,  I  lived  in  and 
was  a  member  of  such  family,  and  personally  knowing  to  the 
things  transacted  in  said  family,  and  those  who  visited  at  my 
father's  house,  and  the  friends  of  the  family,  and  the  friends 
and  acquaintances  of  my  brother,  Joseph  Smith,  Jr.,  who  visited 
at  or  came  to  my  father's  house. 

That  prior  to  the  latter  part  of  the  year  A.  D.  1830,  there 
was  no  person  who  visited  with,  or  was  an  acquaintance  of,  or 
called  upon  the  said  family,  or  any  member  thereof  to  my  knowl- 
edge, by  the  name  of  Sidney  Rigdon;  nor  was  such  person 
known  to  the  family,  or  any  member  thereof,  to  my  knowledge, 
until  the  last  part  of  the  year  A.  D.  1830,  or  the  first  part  of 
the  year  1831,  and  some  time  after  the  organization  of  the 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ,  by  Joseph  Smith,  Jr.,  and  several  months 
after  the  publication  of  the  Book  of  Mormon. 

That  I  remember  the  time  when  Sidney  Rigdon  came  to  my 

peared  to  Smith  and  Cowdery  at  Harmony,  Pennsylvania,  and  conferred 
upon  them  the  Aaronic  priesthood.  Notice  that  part  of  May  and  all  of 
June  of  that  year  are  not  accounted  for  in  the  alibi. 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  153 

father's  place,  and  that  it  was  after  the  removal  of  my  father 
from  Waterloo,  N.  Y.,  to  Kirtland,  Ohio.  That  this  was  in  the 
year  1831,  and  some  months  after  the  publication  of  the  Book 
of  Mormon,  and  fully  one  year  after  the  Church  was  organized, 
as  before  stated  herein. 

That  I  made  this  statement,  not  on  account  of  fear,  favor, 
or  hope  of  reward  of  any  kind;  but  simply  that  the  truth  may 
be  known  with  reference  to  said  matter,  and  that  the  foregoing 
statements  made  by  me  are  true,  as  I  verily  believe. 

KATHERINE  SALISBURY. 

Sworn  before  me,  and  subscribed  in  my  presence,  by  the  said 
Katherine  Salisbury,  this  isth  day  of  April,  A.  D.  1881. 

J.  H.  JENKS,  Notary  Public. 

It  would  be  supposed  that  a  member  of  the  Smith 
family,  and  one  who  was  seventeen  years  of  age  in  1830, 
would,  from  personal  knowledge,  be  able  to  give  the 
public  information  upon  the  point  at  issue  that  would  be 
both  valuable  and  accurate.  But  such  is  not  the  case  in 
the  present  instance.  The  affidavit  of  Mrs.  Salisbury  is 
so  full  of  glarring  errors  that  it  is  wholly  valueless  as 
evidence,  and  the  investigator  is  impressed  that  it  was 
either  made  with  the  design  of  concealing  events  that 
really  did  happen  or  else  that  the  affiant  was  lamentably 
ignorant  of  her  own  family  history. 

In  the  first  place,  Mrs.  Salisbury  says : 

At  the  time  of  the  publication  of  said  book,  my  brother, 
Joseph  Smith,  Jr.,  lived  in  the  family  of  my  father,  in  the  town 
of  Manchester,  Ontario  county,  New  York,  and  that  he  had,  all 
of  his  life  to  this  time,  made  his  home  with  the  family. 

The  very  contrary  of  this  last  statement  is  true.  In- 
stead of  living  all  of  his  life,  up  to  the  publication  of  the 
Book  of  Mormon,  with  his  parents  in  Manchester,  New 
York,  Joseph  went,  some  time  after  he  was  married,  to 
the  home  of  his  wife's  people,  the  Hales,  in  Harmony, 
Pennsylvania,  where  he  resided  from  December,  1827, 
up  to  June,  1829,  when  he  removed  to  the  home  of  the 


164  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

Whitmers  in  Seneca  County.    Mother  Lucy,  in  writing  of 
Mrs.  Harris,  says: 

When  she  returned  home,  being  about  two  weeks  after  her 
arrival  in  Harmony,  the  place  where  Joseph  resided,  she  en- 
deavored to  dissuade  her  husband  from  taking  any  further  part 
in  the  publication  of  the  record. — Joseph  Smith  and  His  Pro- 
genitors (ed.  1908),  p.  135. 

The  second  error  that  Mrs.  Salisbury  makes  is  m  re- 
gard to  the  time  of  the  first  public  visit  of  Rigdon  to  the 
Smiths.  She  says: 

I  remember  the  time  when  Sidney  Rigdon  came  to  my 
father's  place,  and  that  it  was  after  the  removal  of  my  father 
from  Waterloo,  N.  Y.,  to  Kirtland,  Ohio.  That  this  was  in  the 
year  1831,  and  some  months  after  the  publication  of  the  Book  of 
Mormon,  and  fully  one  year  after  the  Church  was  organized,  as 
before  stated  herein. 

Here  Mrs.  Salisbury  has  Rigdon  visiting  her  father's 
family,  for  the  first  time,  after  they  had  removed  to 
Kirtland,  Ohio,  in  the  year  1831  and  "fully  one  year 
after  the  Church  was  organized."  In  refutation  of  this, 
I  cite  the  following  from  Lucy  Smith  (p.  205) : 

In  December  of  the  same  year  (1830),  Joseph  appointed  a 
meeting  at  our  house.  While  he  was  preaching,  Sidney  Rigdon 
and  Edward  Partridge  came  in,  and  seated  themselves  in  the 
congregation. 

This  was  in  Waterloo,  New  York,  before  1831,  and 
only  about  nine  months  after  the  Church  was  organized. 
If  Mrs.  Salisbury  failed  to  remember  this  most  important 
visit  of  Sidney  Rigdon  to  her  father's  family  in  Water- 
loo, New  York,  in  1830,  when  she  was  seventeen  years 
of  age,  is  it  unlikely  that  she  failed  to  remember  the 
other  visits  of  this  gentleman  made  secretly  and  when  fhe 
was  still  younger? 


THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON  165 


CHAPTER    X. 

Internal  Proofs  from  Spauldingfs  First  Manuscript  that  He  Was 
the  Author  of  the  Book  of  Mormon — Both  Found  under  a 
Stone— A  Great  Storm  at  Sea— The  Great  Spirit— The  Revo- 
lution of  the  Earth— The  Use  of  the  Horse — The  Manu- 
facture of  Iron — High  Priests — The  Seer-stone. 

On  the  authorship  of  the  "Manuscript  Story,"  now 
on  deposit  in  the  library  of  Oberlin  College,  there  is  a 
unanimity  of  opinion.  Mormons  and  Gentiles,  alike,  are 
agreed  that  it  was  written  by  Solomon  Spaulding.  The 
difference  exists  between  the  two  parties  on  the  grounds 
of  its  identification  with  the  "Manuscript  Found;"  the 
Mormons  claiming  that  it  is  one  and  the  same  with  that 
manuscript,  the  Gentiles  claiming  that  it  is  another  manu- 
script entirely. 

While  I  am  forced  by  the  logic  of  the  evidence  to  take 
the  latcer  view,  I  believe  that  Solomon  Spaulding  incor- 
porated in  his  "Manuscript  Found"  some  of  the  features 
which  first  appeared  in  his  "Manuscript  Story,"  and  that 
these,  notwithstanding  the  undoubted  thorough  revision 
of  Sidney  Rigdon,  have  come  down  to  us  and  appear  in 
the  Book  of  Mormon. 

It  is  my  purpose  in  the  present  chapter  to  point  out 
these  points  of  resemblance  and  to  weave  them  into  my 
fabric  as  cumulative  evidence  to  support  the  general 
position  that  I  have  taken  that  the  author  of  the  "Manu- 
script Story"  was  the  author  of  the  basis  of  the  Book  of 
Mormon. 

Before  making  my  quotations  from  the  "Manuscript 
Story,"  it  will  be  necessary  for  me  to  explain  the  peculiar 


156  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OP 

markings  that  occur.  As  the  original  manuscript  stands, 
it  is  full  of  erasures  and  mistakes  of  various  kinds.1  In 
order  to  represent  these,  so  that  the  reader  can  have  the 
work  in  print  just  as  it  appears  in  manuscript,  it  was 
found  necessary  by  the  publishers  to  invent  a  system  of 
marking.  In  this  system,  those  words  and  sentences 
which  are  underlined  are  stricken  out  in  the  original, 

while  those  places  marked  thus are  illegible. 

With  this  explanation,  I  shall  give  my  quotations  from 
this  manuscript  just  as  they  appear  in  the  copy  of  the 
original  as  published  by  the  Reorganized  Church.  My 
quotations  from  the  Book  of  Mormon  will  also  be  taken 
from  their  reprint  of  the  third  American  edition  of  that 
book. 

BOTH    FOUND   UNDER  A   STONE. 

Both  the  "Manuscript  Story"  and  the  Book  of  Mor- 
mon are  said  to  have  been  found  under  a  stone,  which 
stone  was  raised  with  a  lever  in  the  hands  of  the  finder. 
Spaulding  gives  the  following  account  of  the  reputed 
finding  of  the  first: 

Near  the  west  Bank  of  the  Coneaught  River  there  are  the 
remains  of  an  ancient  fort.  As  I  was  walking  and  forming 
various  conjectures  respecting  the  character  situation  &  numbers 
of  those  people  who  far  exceeded  the  preesent  Indians  in  works 
of  art  and  inginuety,  I  hapned  to  tread  on  a  flat  stone.  This 
was  at  a  small  distance  from  the  fort,  &  it  lay  on  the  top  of  a 
great  small  mound  of  Earth  exactly  horizontal.  The  face  of  it 
had  a  singular  appearance.  I  discovered  a  number  of  characters, 
which  appeared  to  me  to  be  letters,  but  so  much  effaced  by  the 
ravages  of  time,  that  I  could  not  read  the  inscription.  With  the 
assistance  of  a  leaver  I  raised  the  stone.  But  you  may  easily 

1  These  are  sometimes  held  up  to  prove  that  Spaulding  was  not  as 
learned  a  man  as  he  is  supposed  to  have  been,  but  a  careful  study  of  his 
"Manuscript  Story"  will  show  that  they  are  due  to  pure  carelessness.  In 
some  instances,  he  spells  a  word  correctly  and  in  others  incorrectly.  This 
was,  probably,  his  first  draft,  which  he  never  expected  any  one  to  see. 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  167 

conjecture  my  astonishment  when  I  discovered  that  its  ends 
and  sides  rested  on  stones  &  that  it  was  designed  as  a  cover  to 
an  artificial  Cave.  I  found  by  examining  that  its  sides  were 

lined  with  stones  built  in  a  comnical  form  with 

down,  &  that  it  was  about  eight  feet  deep. — M.  S.,  p.  n. 

After  giving  a  description  of  this  cave,  Spaulding 
continues : 

Observing  one  side  (of  the  cave,  C.  A.  S.)  to  be  perpendicular 
nearly  three  feet  from  the  bottom,  I  began  to  inspect  that  part 
with  accuracy.  Here  I  noticed  a  big  flat  stone  fixed  in  the  form 
of  a  doar.  I  immediately  tore  it  down  and  Lo,  a  cavity  within 
the  wall  presented  itself  it  being  about  three  feet  in  diamiter 
from  side  to  side  and  about  two  feet  high.  Within  this  cavity  I 
found  an  earthen  Box  with  a  cover  which  shut  it  perfectly  tite. 
The  Box  was  two  feet  in  length  one  &  half  in  breadth  & 
one  &  three  inches  in  diameter.  My  mind  filled  with  awful 
sensations  which  crowded  fast  upon  me  would  hardly  permit  my 
hands  to  remove  this  venerable  deposit,  but  curiosity  soon  gained 
the  assendency  &  the  box  was  taken  £  raised  to  open  it.  When 
I  had  removed  the  Cover  I  found  that  it  contained  twenty-eight 

rolls  of  parchment  —  &  —  that  when appeared  to  be 

manuscrips  written  in  eligant  hand  with  Roman  Letters  &  in 
the  Latin  Language. — M.  S.,  p.  12. 

This  is  Spaulding's  fictitious  account  of  the  finding 
of  the  "Manuscript  Story."  Now  let  us  read  Joseph 
Smith's  description  of  the  finding  of  the  Mormon  plates : 

Convenient  to  the  village  of  Manchester,  Ontario  County, 
New  York,  stands  a  hill  of  considerable  size,  and  the  most  ele- 
vated of  any  in  the  neighborhood.  On  the  west  side  of  this  hill, 
not  far  from  the  top,  under  a  stone  of  considerable  size,  lay  the 
plates  deposited  in  a  stone  box.  This  stone  was  thick  and  round- 
ing in  the  middle  on  the  upper  side,  and  thinner  toward  the 
edges,  so  that  the  middle  part  of  it  was  visible  above  the  ground, 
but  the  edge  all  around  was  covered  with  earth.  Having  re- 
moved the  earth  and  obtained  a  lever  which  I  got  fixed  under 
the  edge  of  the  stone  and  with  a  little  exertion  raised  it  up,  I 
looked  in  and  there  indeed  did  I  behold  the  plates,  the  Urim 
and  Thummim,  and  the  Breastplate,  as  stated  by  the  mes- 


158  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

senger.  The  box  in  which  they  lay  was  formed  by  laying  stones 
together  in  some  kind  of  cement;  in  the  bottom  of  the  box, 
were  laid  two  stones  crossways  of  the  box,  and  on  these  stones 
lay  the  plates  and  the  other  things  with  them.— Church  History, 
Vol.  I.,  p.  16. 

Spaulding  claimed  to  find  his  manuscripts  under  a 
flat  stone,  which  he  raised  with  a  lever,  and  in  an  earthen 
box.  Smith  claimed  to  find  his  plates  under  a  stone, 
which  was  thick  in  the  middle,  but  thin  at  the  edges,  and 
which  he  raised  with  a  lever,  and  in  a  stone  box.  Spaul- 
ding represents  himself  as  accidentally  discovering  his 
records;  Smith  declares  that  the  depository  of  his  was 
revealed  to  him  by  the  angel  Moroni. 

A   GREAT   STORM    AT   SEA. 

The  "Manuscript  Story"  and  the  Book  of  Mormon 
both  agree  in  describing  a  great  storm  at  sea  during  the 
voyage  which  brought  the  people  they  describe  from  the 
Old  World  to  the  New.  The  former  says : 

One  day  he  (Constantine,  C.  A.  S.)  says  to  me  Fabius  you 

must  go  to  Brittian  &  carry  a~  important to   the 

general  of  our  army  there —  sail  in  a  vessel  &  return 

when    she    returns.      Preparation    was    made    instantly    and    we 

sailed The  vessel  laden  with  provisions  for  the  army 

Cloath-knives  and  other  implements  for  their  use  had 

now  arived  near  the  coasts  of  Britain  when  a  tremenduous  storm 
arose  &  drove  us  into  the  midst  of  the  boundless  Ocean.  Soon 
the  whole  crew  became  lost  S:  bewildered.  They  knew  not 
the  direction  for  to  the  rising  Sun  or  polar  Star,  for  the  heavens 
were  covered  with  clouds;  &  darkness  had  spread  her  sable 
mantle  over  the  face  of  the  raging  deep.  Their  minds  were 
filled  with  consternation  and  despair.  &  unanimously  agreed  that 
What  could  we  do?  How  be  extrecated  from  the  insatiable 
jaws  of  a  watry  tomb.  Then  it  was  that  we  felt  our  absolute 
dependence  on  that  Almighty  &  gracious  Being  who  holds  the 

winds  &  floods  in hands.     From  him  alone  could  we 

expect  deliverance.  To  him  our  most  fervent  desires  assended. 
Prostrate  &  on  bended  nees  we  poured  forth  incessant  Suppli- 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  159 

cation  &  even  Old  Ocean  appeared  to  sympathize  in  our  distress 
by  returning  the  echo  of  our  vociforos  Cries  &  lamentations. 
After  being  driven  five  days  with  incridable  velocity  before  the 
furious  wind  the  storm  abated  in  its  violance. — M.  S.,  p.  15. 

The  Book  of  Mormon  account  of  a  similar  storm  is 
as  follows: 

And  it  came  to  pass  that  after  they  (Laman  and  Lemuel, 
C.  A.  S.)  had  bound  me  (Nephi,  C.  A.  S.),  insomuch  that  I 
could  not  move,  the  compass,  which  had  been  prepared  of  the 
Lord,  did  cease  to  work ;  wherefore,  they  knew  not  whither  they 
should  steer  the  ship,  insomuch,  that  there  arose  a  great  storm, 
yea,  a  great  and  terrible  tempest ;  and  we  were  driven  back  upon 
the  waters  for  the  space  of  three  days ;  and  they  began  to  be 
frightened  exceedingly,  lest  they  should  be  drowned  in  the  sea: 
nevertheless  they  did  not  loose  me.  And  on  the  fourth  day 
which  we  had  been  driven  back,  the  tempest  began  to  be  ex- 
ceeding sore. 

And  it  came  to  pass  that  we  were  about  to  be  swallowed  up 
in  the  depths  of  the  sea.  And  after  we  had  been  driven  back 
upon  the  waters  for  the  space  of  four  days,  my  brethren  began 
to  see  that  the  judgments  of  God  were  upon  them,  and  that 
they  must  perish,  save  that  they  should  repent  of  their  iniquities ; 
wherefore,  they  came  unto  me  and  loosed  the  bands  which  were 
upon  my  wrists,  and  behold,  they  had  swollen  exceedingly ;  and 
also  mine  ankles  were  much  smollen,  and  great  was  the  soreness 
thereof. 

And  it  came  to  pass  after  they  had  loosed  me,  behold,  I  took 
the  compass,  and  it  did  work  whither  I  desired  it.  And  it  came 
to  pass  that  I  prayed  unto  the  Lord ;  and  after  I  had  prayed, 
the  winds  did  cease,  and  the  storm  did  cease,  and  there  was  a 
great  calm. — B.  of  M.,  pp.  42,  43. 

In  both  accounts,  the  storm  which  occurred  ceased  in 
answer  to  prayer. 

THE   GREAT   SPIRIT. 

Both  records  declare  that  the  ancient  Americans  be- 
lieved in  the  Great  Spirit.  Spaulding  gives  the  following 
address  of  an  ancient  American  chieftain: 

(12) 


160  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

The  Speaker  then  extended  his  hands  &  spoke.  Hail,  ye 
favorite  children  of  the  great  and  good  Spirit,  who  resides  in 
the  Sun  who  is  the  father  of  all  living  creatures  &  whose  arms 
encircle  us  all  around. — M.  S.,  p.  23. 

In  the  Book  of  Mormon,  I  find  King  Lamoni  saying 
this: 

Behold,  is  not  this  the  Great  Spirit  who  doth  send  such 
great  punishments  upon  this  people,  because  of  their  murders? 
—B.  of  M.,  p.  253. 

And  Ammon  is  represented  as  asking  King  Lamoni: 

Believest  thou  that  there  is  a  Great  Spirit?  And  he  said, 
Yea.  And  Ammon  said,  This  is  God. — B.  of  M.,  p.  255. 

This  appellation  stamps  both  books  as  a  fraud,  for 
it  is  now  conceded  by  all  of  the  leading  students  of  the 
ancient  American  religions  that  the  American  Indian 
knew  nothing  whatever  of  the  "Great  Spirit"  until  he 
heard  of  him  through  the  white  missionary.  The  native 
terms  for  God  do  not  express  the  idea  of  personality, 
but  simply  of  the  supernatural  in  general,  the  mysterious, 
the  incomprehensible,  the  unknown.1 

Maj.  J.  W.  Powell,  former  chief  of  the  Smithsonian 
Institution,  says: 

Nations  with  civilized  institutions,  art  with  palaces,  mono- 
theism as  the  worship  of  the  Great  Spirit,  all  vanish  from  the 
priscan  condition  of  North  America  in  the  light  of  anthropologic 
research.  Tribes  with  the  social  institutions  of  kinship,  art  with 
its  highest  architectural  development  exhibited  in  the  structure 
of  communal  dwellings,  and  polytheism  in  the  worship  of  mythic 
animals  and  nature-gods  remain. — First  Report  of  the  Bureau  of 
American  Ethnology,  p.  69. 

Mr.  F.  S.  Dellenbaugh,  a  prominent  archaeologist,  also 
says: 

They  had  no  understanding  of  a  single  "Great  Spirit"  till 

1  See  Chapter  VIII.  of  my  "Cumorah  Revisited." 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  161 

the  Europeans,  often  unconsciously,  informed  them  of  their  own 
belief.— North  Americans  of  Yesterday,  p.  375. 

THE   REVOLUTION   OF   THE   EARTH. 

Fabius,  after  reaching  our  shores,  reasoned  as  follows 
on  the  revolution  of  the  earth : 

Whereas,  if  according  to  the  platonic  system,  the  earth  is  a 
globe  &  the  sun  is  stationary,  then  the  earth  by  a  moderate  veloc- 
ity   perform  her  revolutions. — M.  S.,  p.  29. 

In  the  Book  of  Mormon,  Helaman  says: 

Yea,  and  if  he  say  unto  the  earth,  Move,  it  is  moved ;  yea,  if 
he  say  unto  the  earth,  Thou  shalt  go  back,  that  it  lengthen  out 
the  day  for  many  hours,  it  is  done:  and  thus  according  to  his 
word,  the  earth  goeth  back,  and  it  appeareth  unto  man  that  the 
sun  standeth  still:  yea,  and  behold,  this  is  so;  for  sure  it  is  the 
earth  that  moveth,  and  not  the  sun. — B.  of  M.,  p.  410. 

THE   USE   OF   THE    HORSE. 

Both  the  "Manuscript  Story"  and  the  Book  of  Mor- 
mon inform  us  that  the  ancient  Americans  made  use  of 
the  horse.  In  the  first  mentioned,  I  find  the  following: 

The  ground  was  plov/ed  by  horses  &  generally  made  very 
mellow  for  the  reception  of  the  seed. — M.  S.,  p.  35. 

There  are  a  number  of  references  in  the  Book  of 
Mormon  to  the  use  of  the  horse,  but  the  following  will 
suffice : 

And  it  came  to  pass  that  the  people  of  Nephi  did  till  the 
land,  and  raise  all  manner  of  grain,  and  of  fruit,  and  flocks  of 
herds,  and  flocks  of  all  manner  of  cattle,  of  every  kind,  and 
goats,  and  wild  goats,  and  also  many  horses.— B.  of  M.,  p.  133. 

It  is  now  agreed  that,  while  the  horse  was  an  in- 
habitant of  America  in  the  earlier  geologic  epochs,  he 
ceased  to  exist  long  before  man  had  attained  to  any 
considerable  degree  of  culture  as  represented  in  the  Book 
of  Mormon.  Dr.  D.  G.  Brinton  says : 


162  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN  OF 

There  is  no  doubt  but  that  the  horse  existed  on  the  continent 
contemporaneously  with  postglacial  man;  and  some  palaeon- 
tologists are  of  the  opinion  that  the  European  and  Asian  horses 
were  descendents  of  the  American  species;  but  for  some  mys- 
terious reason  the  genus  became  extinct  in  the  New  World 
many  generations  before  its  discovery.— The  American  Race, 
P-  50. 

THE    MANUFACTURE  OF   IRON. 

On  the  manufacture  of  iron  tools  and  implements,  the 
"Manuscript  Story"  says: 

The  manufacturing  of  lead  Iron  &  lead  was  understood,  but 
was  not  carried  on  to  that  extent  &  perfection  as  in  Europe.  A 
small  quantity  of  Iron  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  Inhab- 
itants served  to  supply  them  with  all  the  impliments  which  cus- 
tom had  made  necessary  for  their  use.  By  hammering  &  hard- 
ening their  Iron  they  would  convert  it  nearly  into  the  con- 
sistence of  Steal  &  fit  it  for  the  purpose  of  edged  tools. — M.  S.t 
p.  36. 

In  the  Book  of  Mormon,  Nephi  says : 

And  I  did  teach  my  people  to  build  buildings:  and  to  work 
in  all  manner  of  wood,  and  of  iron,  and  of  copper,  and  of 
brass,  and  of  steel,  and  of  gold,  and  of  silver,  and  of  precious 
ores,  which  were  in  great  abundance. — B.  of  M.,  p.  64. 

No  fact  is  better  established  than  that  the  American 
race  did  not  use  manufactured  iron  and  steel  tools  before 
the  discovery.  Says  Prof.  Cyrus  Thomas,  of  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution: 

The  use  of  iron  as  a  metal  was  unknown  in  America  previous 
to  the  discovery  by  Columbus. — American  Archeology,  p.  n. 

HIGH   PRIESTS. 

On  this  point,  the  "Manuscript  Story"  says : 

Labamack  accepted  the  office  of  Emperor  &  his  four  counsel- 
lor were  appointed.  Lambon  was  ordained  high  Priest  &  his 
four  assistants  chosen. — M.  S.,  p.  63. 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  18* 

On  the  appointment  of  the  Nephite  Alma  to  such  an 
office,  the  Book  of  Mormon  says: 

And  it  came  to  pass  that  Alma  was  appointed  to  be  the  first 
chief  judge;  he  being  also  the  high  priest;  his  father  having 
conferred  the  office  upon  him,  and  had  given  him  the  charge 
concerning  all  the  affairs  of  the  church. — B.  of  M.,  p.  204. 

THE   SEER-STONE. 

We  now  come  to  an  identity  between  the  "Manuscript 
Story"  and  the  claims  of  Mormonism  which  is  most  con- 
clusive in  proving  that  the  Mormon  fraud  had  its  in- 
ception in  the  brain  of  Solomon  Spaulding,  the  dreamer 
of  Conneaut.  In  the  "Manuscript  Story"  we  find  one  of 
the  characters  employing  a  stone  exactly  as  Joseph  Smith 
is  said  afterward  to  have  employed  the  Urim  and  Thum- 
mim  or  the  seer-stone.  Of  Hamack,  a  character  in  his 
first  novel,  Spaulding  says: 

Hamack  then  arose  &  in  his  hand  he  held  a  stone  which  he 
pronounced  transparent.  Thro*  this  he  could  view  things  present 
&  things  to  come,  could  behold  the  dark  intriques  &  cabals  of 
foreign  courts,  &  behold  discover  hidden  treasures,  secluded  from 
the  eyes  of  other  mortals.  He  could  behold  the  galant  and  his 
mistress  in  their  bedchamber,  &  count  all  their  moles  warts  & 
pimples.  Such  was  the  clearness  of  his  sight,  when  this  trans- 
parent stone  was  placed  before  his  eyes.  He  looked  firmly  & 
steadfastly  on  the  stone  &  raised  his  prophetic  voice. — M.  S., 
p.  98. 

The  following  is  a  description  of  the  manner  in  which 
Joseph  Smith  is  said  to  have  employed  the  Urim  and 
Thummim,  from  the  pen  of  David  Whitmer,  one  of  the 
three  witnesses,  and  published  in  the  Chicago  Times  of 
August  7,  1875.  Let  the  reader  carefully  compare  this 
description  with  the  foregoing  account  from  the  "Manu- 
script Story,"  and  then  decide  for  himself  whether  or  not 
there  are  good  grounds  for  believing  that  this  feature  of 


164  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

the  Mormon  fraud  was  first  conceived  in  the  mind  of  the 
dreamer  of  Conneaut.     Whitmer  says: 

And  (I)  was  an  eye-witness  to  the  method  of  procedure. 
The  plates  were  not  before  Joseph  while  he  translated.  .  .  . 
The  method  pursued  was  common-place,  but  nevertheless  effec- 
tive. Having  placed  the  Urim  and  Thummim  in  his  hat,  Joseph 
placed  the  hat  over  his  face,  and  with  prophetic  eyes  read  the 
invisible  symbols,  syllable  by  syllable  and  word  by  word,  while 
Cowdery  or  Harris  acted  as  recorders.  ...  So  illiterate  was 
Joseph  at  that  time,  that  he  didn't  even  know  that  Jerusalem 
was  a  walled  city,  and  he  was  utterly  unable  to  pronounce  many 
of  the  names  which  the  magic  power  of  the  Urim  and  Thummim 
revealed,  and  therefore  spelled  them  out  in  syllables,  and  the 
more  erudite  scribe  put  them  together.  The  stone  was  the  same 
used  by  the  Jaredites  at  (from?)  Babel.  I  have  frequently  placed 
it  to  my  eyes,  but  could  see  nothing  through  it.  I  have  seen 
Joseph,  however,  place  it  to  his  eyes  and  instantly  read  signs 
one  hundred  and  sixty  miles  distant,  and  tell  exactly  what  was 
transpiring  there.  When  I  went  to  Harmony  after  him,  he  told 
me  the  name  of  every  hotel  at  which  I  had  stopped  on  the  road, 
read  the  signs,  and  described  various  scenes  without  having  ever 
received  any  information  from  me. — Quoted  in  "Joseph  the 
Seer"  p.  72. 

Hamack  could  view  things  present  and  things  to 
come,  dark  intrigues  and  cabals,  hidden  treasures,  amo- 
rous practices,  and  even  moles  and  warts  and  pimples, 
through  his  stone.  Joseph  could  read  signs  one  hundred 
and  sixty  miles  distant,  the  names  on  the  hotels,  and 
behold  various  scenes  through  which  Whitmer  passed, 
through  his.  Reader,  is  not  this  coincidence  suspicious, 
to  say  the  least  ? * 

I  close  this  chapter  with  the  following  verses  from  the 
pen  of  A.  O.  Hooten,  of  Bridge,  Oregon,  in  which  are 
summed  up  the  points  of  identity  between  the  "Manu- 
script Story"  and  the  Book  of  Mormon : 


1  See  also  "Mosiah"  5:  10  for  a  similar  stone  in  use  by  a  Nephite  seer. 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  165 

Solomon  and  Joseph,  they  each  found  a  "record," 
And  each  of  the  "records,"  was  very,  very  old. 

Solomon's  was  in  "Latin,"  and  written  on  "parchment, 
Joseph's    "Reformed    Egyptian,"    "engraved"    on    "plates"    of 
"gold." 

'Twas  just  under  a  "stone,"  which  he  raised  by  a  "lever," 
That  each  found  his  "record,"  each  dry,  safe  and  sound 

Solomon's  in  a  "box,"  in  a  cave  "artificial," 
Joseph's  in  a  "box,"  near  the  surface  of  the  ground 

Of  each  of  the  "records,"  only  part  was  "translated," 
Each  one  gave  his  reasons,  why  a  part  was  reserved. 

Solomon's  was  a  novel,  while  Joseph's  was  "more  bible," 
For  many  centuries,  hidden,  miraculously  preserved. 

The  "records"  each  tell  us,  while  parties  crossed  the  ocean 
Tremenduous  storms  arose,  surging  billows  everywhere, 

Yet  all  were  safely  landed,  and  not  one  life  was  lost, 
They  were  saved  from  destruction  in  answer  to  prayer. 

Each  "record"  mentions  horses,  that  were  found  upon  the  land, 
"Burnt   offerings"   people   offered,   to  cleanse   them   from  all 
sin, 

Judges  were  appointed,  that  justice  might  be  done, 

And  different  peoples,  three,  this  land  were  dwelling  in. 

Each  "translator"  must  have  "planets"  that  move  in  regular  form. 

And  "Oracles"  their  words  received,  as  coming  from  above. 
"Sacred"  writings  kept  separate,  and  "characters"  used  for  words, 

The  wicked  punished  for  a  while,  then  saved  by  redeeming 
love. 

Each  builds  his  forts  of  "earth"  thrown  up  with  timbers  placed 
on  top, 

Has  property  held  in  "common,"  and  counsellors  four  or  two, 
Has  a  man  whose  words,  accepted,  as  coming  from  above, 

Just  so  he  calls  it  "revelation,"  that's  enough  to  them  'tis  true. 

But  the  thing  that  was  dearest,  to  each  "translator's"  heart, 
Was  the  magical  "interpreters"  or  "transparent  stone"  so  clear ; 

With  them  nothing  could  be  hidden,  all  things  came  to  view, 
Moles  and  pimples,  warts  and  wrinkles,  all  things  far  and  near. 


166  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

There's  no  "likeness"  shoots  the  "nigger"  'neath  the  "woodpile" 

of  the  saints, 
This    "missing    link"    of    "evidence"    at    last    completes    the 

"chain." » 
Yet  Spaulding  wrote  his  "manuscript,"  before  Smith  found  his 

"book," 

And  there's  nineteen  points  of  identity.    Will  Mormons  please 
explain  ? 

»The  preface  to  the  'Manuscript  Story"  by  the  Reorganized  Church 
•peaks  of  it  as  "this  hobgoblin  of  the  pulpit,  this  'nigger-in-the-woodpile' 
of  the  press  and  the  forum,"  and  this  "newly  found  'missing  link'  "  which 
"completes  the  chain  of  evidence." 


THE  BOOK  OP  MORMON  1«7 


CHAPTER   XL 

Mormon  Objections  Answered — Size  of  the  Book  of  Mormon — 
Style  of  the  Book  of  Mormon — Character  of  the  Book  of 
Mormon — Smith's  Inability  to  Produce  the  Book  of  Mormon 
— The  Challenge  to  Produce  the  Original  Manuscript — The 
Character  of  Hurlburt  and  Howe — Supposed  Contradictions 
in  the  "Manuscript  Found"  to  the  Book  of  Mormon— Re- 
capitulation. 

Various  objections  have,  from  time  to  time,  been 
raised  against  the  theory  that  the  Book  of  Mormon  orig- 
inated in  the  celebrated  "Manuscript  Found"  of  Solomon 
Spaulding.  It  is  objected  that  the  Book  of  Mormon 
is  too  elaborate  a  work  to  have  come  from  such  a 
small  manuscript  as  Spaulding  wrote;  that  the  style  of 
the  book  is  too  common  for  a  scholar  so  learned  as 
Spaulding  is  represented  to  have  been,  and  that  it  differs 
widely  from  the  style  of  his  "Manuscript  Story;"  that  its 
doctrinal  teachings  are  radically  different  from  those  that 
one  would  expect  from  the  pen  of  a  Presbyterian  clergy- 
man; that  Smith  was  wholly  unable,  independent  of  di- 
vine help,  to  perform  the  task  assigned  him;  that  the 
Mormon  demand  to  produce  Spaulding' s  purported  Jew- 
ish manuscript  has  never  been  complied  with,  hence  that 
this  manuscript  never  existed ;  that  the  character  of  Hurl- 
burt and  Howe  was  so  low  and  detestable  that  their  testi- 
mony and  work  is  discredited  thereby,  and  that  certain 
contradictions  must  have  appeared  in  Spaulding's  second 
manuscript,  if  that  manuscript  ever  existed,  to  the  his- 
torical and  doctrinal  teachings  of  the  Book  of  Mormon. 
These  are  the  most  important  objections  that  have 
been  raised  against  the  theory  which  finds  the  original 


168  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OP 

of  the  Book  of  Mormon  in  the  "Manuscript  Found." 
While  these  objections  possess  but  little  force  to  those 
who  are  familiar  with  the  evidences  adduced  and  the 
positions  taken  by  the  advocates  of  the  Spaulding  theory, 
they  are  so  plausible  on  the  face  of  them  and  are  so  in- 
geniously presented  as  often  to  deceive  the  superficial 
and  those  who  have  little  or  no  information  on  the 
grounds  that  are  really  occupied  by  those  who  hold  to 
this  view.  It  is  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  this  in- 
formation, therefore,  that  this  chapter  is  written. 

The  Mormons  have  ever  taken  full  advantage  of  the 
confusion  that  arises  over  the  forced  identification  of  the 
"Manuscript  Found"  with  the  "Manuscript  Story,"  and 
in  some  instances  they  have  applied  the  descriptions  of 
the  one  to  the  other,  and  vice  versa,  and  by  so  doing 
have  produced  a  mass  of  apparent  contradictions,  incon- 
sistencies and  absurdities  that  is  both  ludicrous  and  dis- 
gusting. It  is  only  when  the  distinction  between  the  two 
manuscripts  is  clearly  fixed  in  the  mind  that  the  investi- 
gator is  able  to  work  himself  out  of  the  fog  of  Mormon 
sophistry  and  misrepresentation  and  into  the  sunlight  of 
truth. 

The  true  theory  of  the  revamping  of  the  Book  of 
Mormon  from  the  "Manuscript  Found"  is  this:  About 
the  year  1809,  Solomon  Spaulding  began  an  historical 
novel,  based  upon  the  antiquities  of  America,  in  which  he 
described  the  first  colonists  as  coming  to  our  shores  from 
Jerusalem  under  the  leadership  of  Lehi  and  Nephi.  This 
novel,  which  he  called  the  "Manuscript  Found,"  he  placed 
in  the  printing  establishment  of  Robert  Patterson,  of 
Pittsburgh,  from  which  it  was  stolen  by  Sidney  Rigdon 
in  1815  or  1816.  Rigdon  afterwards  rewrote  this  man- 
uscript, retaining  only  the  historical  outline,  proper  names 
and  certain  Scriptural  expressions,  but  adding  a  large 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  169 

amount  of  religious  matter  and  clothing  the  whole  in  his 
own  style  and  manner  of  expression,  after  which  he  put 
it  in  the  hands  of  Joseph  Smith,  a  young  "money-digger" 
of  western  New  York,  about  the  year  1827,  who,  in  turn, 
read  it  off  from  behind  a  sheet  to  another  accomplice, 
Oliver  Cowdery,  who  wrote  it  down  as  it  fell  from  his 
lips  and  got  it  in  shape  for  the  printer.  I  believe  this  to 
be  the  theory  of  the  revamping  of  the  Spaulding  story 
as  it  would  be  stated  by  the  majority,  at  least,  of  those 
who  advocate  it.  No  one  claims  that  the  historical  part 
of  the  Book  of  Mormon  is  just  as  Spaulding  wrote  it, 
word  for  word.  The  whole  thing  was  rewritten  by  Rig- 
don,  who  retained  from  the  original  only  the  outline,  the 
proper  names  and  certain  Scriptural  expressions. 

With  this  explanation,  let  us  now  take  up  the  ob- 
jections that  have  been  offered,  and  give  them  a  fair, 
candid  and  careful  examination. 

THE   SIZE   OF   THE   BOOK   OF    MORMON. 

It  is  objected  that  the  "Manuscript  Found"  could  not 
have  been  the  basis  of  the  Book  of  Mormon,  for  the 
reason  that  it  was  too  meager  a  thing  to  make  a  book  the 
size  of  the  latter.  Elder  E.  L.  Kelley  says: 

The  manuscript  Spaulding  is  said  to  have  written  was  too 
meager  a  thing  to  in  any  sense  compare  with  a  manuscript  that 
would  make  a  book  the  size  of  the  Book  of  Mormon. — Braden 
and  Kelley  Debate  (first  ed.),  p.  80. 

Further  on  he  adds : 

Taking  up  the  first  reason,  it  will  at  once  be  clear  to  you 
that  a  manuscript  written  in  the  English  language,  as  they  con- 
cede Spaulding's  was,  to  contain  the  amount  of  matter  that  is 
included  in  the  strictly  historical  part  of  the  Book  of  Mormon, 
would  cover  at  least  fifteen  hundred  pages  of  foolscap  paper. 
Was  the  "Manuscript  Found"  such?  The  statements  of  those 
who  claim  they  saw  the  "Manuscript  Found,"  place  it  beyond 


170  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN  OF 

doubt  that  it  was  no  such.  Mrs.  McKinstry,  the  daughter  of 
Solomon  Spaulding,  in  her  evidence,  says,  that  she,  "Read  the 
manuscript  frequently  when  she  was  about  twelve  years  of  age, 
and  that  it  was  about  one  inch  in  thickness."  She  read  it  fre- 
quently, so  it  could  not  have  been  very  large.  Then  their  other 
trumped  up  witnesses  all,  or  nearly  all,  say  they  heard  it  read. 
Henry  Lake  heard  it  read.  John  N.  Miller  heard  it  read  from 
beginning  to  end.  Aaron  Wright  heard  Spaulding  read  it,  etc. 
Mrs.  Matilda  Spaulding,  wife  of  Solomon  Spaulding,  states  in 
her  testimony  published  in  the  Illinois  Quincy  Whig,  that  it  was 
about  a  third  as  large  as  the  Book  of  Mormon  and  that  her 
daughter  (Mrs.  McKinstry)  read  it  frequently.  Hurlburt  who 
was  commissioned  by  Henry  Lake,  John  Miller,  Aaron  Wright, 
€t  al.  (Braden's  witnesses),  to  go  and  get  the  Spaulding  writing, 
went  and  got  it  he  says,  and  the  only  one  in  Spaulding's  hand- 
writing which  the  widow  had.  That  he  delivered  it  to  E.  D. 
Howe  of  Painesville,  who  was  writing  the  book  to  break  down  the 
Mormons,  and  Howe  says,  page  288,  of  his  book  in  describing 
it,  that,  "The  trunk  referred  to  by  the  widow  was  subsequently- 
examined  and  found  to  contain  only  a  single  manuscript  book 
in  Spaulding's  handwriting,  containing  about  one  quire  of  paper." 
Then  according  to  the  description  of  the  manuscript  itself 
by  those  who  actually  saw  it,  it  must  have  been  a  very  small 
affair  indeed  in  comparison  to  the  historical  portion  of  the  Book 
of  Mormon.  In  fact  there  was  no  comparison  of  the  one,  to 
the  other,  whatever. 

The  above  is  confusion  confounded.  It  is  an  instance 
of  flagrantly  jumbling  the  two  manuscripts  together  in 
order  to  produce  an  effect  of  absurdity  and  inconsistency. 
The  manuscript  which  Mesdames  Davison  and  McKins- 
try describe  could  not  have  been  the  "Manuscript  Found" 
at  all,  but  was  the  "Manuscript  Story."  The  former  was 
never  in  the  "old  hair  trunk"  after  Spaulding's  death, 
for  the  reason  that  it  was  in  the  hands  of  Rigdon.  These 
ladies,  as  we  have  already  shown,  were  mistaken,  for  the 
manuscript  they  describe  has  been  traced  from  the  old 
trunk  to  Hurlburt,  from  Hurlburt  to  Howe,  from  Howe 
to  Rice  and  from  Rice  to  the  Oberlin  College  Library,  and 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  171 

the  only  title  that  it  bears  is  "Manuscript  Story — Con- 
neaut  Creek,"  and  this  "in  faint  penciling,"  while  it  is 
profoundly  different  from  the  "Manuscript  Found"  as 
this  is  described  by  John  Spaulding,  Henry  Lake  and  the 
others. 

Again,  what  if  the  original  "Manuscript  Found"  was 
a  much  shorter  work  than  the  Book  of  Mormon?  How 
does  this  prove  that  it  could  not  have  been  the  basis  of 
the  latter?  Mr.  Kelley's  statement  that  the  historical 
part  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  alone  "would  cover  at 
least  fifteen  hundred  pages  of  foolscap  paper,"  is  away 
wide  of  the  mark.  By  a  test  which  I  have  made,  I  have 
found  that  the  whole  Book  of  Mormon,  historical  part 
and  all,  can  be  easily  written  upon  twelve  hundred  pages. 
Another  fact  is  that  about  three-fourths  of  the  book  is 
religious  matter,  and  we  contend  that  this  was  the  work 
of  Rigdon.  This  would  leave,  by  a  fair  estimate,  about 
three  hundred  pages  for  the  historical  part,  written  just 
as  it  is,  and  if  this  were  reduced  to  a  consistent  size  by 
the  omission  of  redundant  and  superfluous  language,  rep- 
etitions, etc.,  Rigdon's  overdress,  it  would  fill  a  space  in 
print  at  most  one-eighth  the  size  of  the  Book  of  Mormon. 
So  the  statements  of  Lake,  Miller  and  Wright,  concern- 
ing the  size  of  Spaulding's  "Manuscript  Found,"  may  be 
correct  after  all. 

THE   STYLE  OF  THE   BOOK   OF   MORMON. 

I.  It  is  claimed  that  the  historical  and  doctrinal  parts 
of  the  Book  of  Mormon  are  so  closely  interwoven  that 
they  could  not  have  been  the  work  of  two  independent 
writers.  Elder  J.  R.  Lambert  says: 

The  historical  and  doctrinal  parts  are  so  closely  blended  and 
interwoven,  throughout  the  book,  that  it  is  evident  that  who- 
ever wrote  all  or  any  part  of  the  history  contained  in  the  book, 


172  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

also  wrote  the   doctrine  presented  with   it. — Objections  to   the 
Book  of  Mormon  Answered  and  Refuted,  p.  76. 

But  Mr.  Lambert  proceeds  to  reason  upon  the 
grounds,  which  we  have  already  denied,  that  his  op- 
ponents hold  to  the  view  that  the  historical  part  of  the 
Book  of  Mormon  is  verbally  the  work  of  Spaulding.  I 
feel  sure  that  no  anti-Mormon  writer,  who  has  given 
the  matter  due  consideration,  holds  to  any  such  theory. 
All  that  we  claim  is  that  Rigdon  took  the  historical  out- 
line, proper  names  and  certain  Scriptural  expressions 
from  the  "Manuscript  Found,"  and  clothed  them  in  his 
own  particular  literary  style,  and  presented  them  to  the 
world  as  the  Book  of  Mormon.  This  would  not  have 
been  an  impossible  feat,  for  it  is  done  every  day  in  our 
public  schools,  the  scholars  reproducing  in  their  own 
language  the  thoughts  of  another.  This  is  what  we  claim 
Rigdon  did. 

2.  Again,  it  is  objected  that  the  style  of  the  Book  of 
Mormon  is  altogether  too  common  for  a  man  of  the 
education  and  literary  ability  of  Solomon  Spaulding.1 
Elder  W.  W.  Blair  writes : 

That  any  one  of  judgment,  on  reading  the  book,  could  for 
one  moment  think  that  Rev.  Mr.  Spaulding,  commonly  reputed 
to  be  a  man  of  poetic  nature,  romantic  tastes  and  high  scholastic 
attainments,  ever  wrote  the  book,  or  even  one  page  of  it,  is 
more  than  we  can  believe.  Had  he,  or  any  man  of  finished 
education,  written  the  book,  their  scholarly  attainments  would 
have  been  manifest  in  the  style,  language  and  arrangement  of  the 
book. — Joseph  the  Seer,  p.  174. 

J  When  it  is  to  the  advantage  of  the  Mormons,  Spaulding's  ability  is 
run  up,  and  when  not  to  their  advantage  to  run  it  up,  it  is  run  down. 
Right  in  this  same  connection,  Blair  says:  "Whoever  will  read  the  'Man- 
uscript Story'  written  by  Rev.  Spaulding,  will  perceive  that  he  had  neither 
the  religion,  the  morals,  the  information,  nor  the  intellectual  ability,  to 
write  the  Book  of  Mormon,  nor  anything  to  compare  with  it"  (p.  I75)« 
In  the  first  quotation,  the  Book  of  Mormon,  as  a  literary  production,  is 
below  Spaulding;  in  this  quotation,  it  is  above  him. 


THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON  173 

But  here,  again,  Mr.  Blair  proceeds  to  argue  along 
the  same  line  as  Mr.  Lambert,  and  assumes  that  his  op- 
ponents hold  that  the  Book  of  Mormon,  or  at  least  the 
historical  part  of  it,  is  just  as  it  came  from  Spaulding's 
pen  without  being  worked  over.  I  say  that  no  such  the- 
ory would,  for  a  moment,  be  held  by  any  anti-Mormon 
polemic  who  would  give  the  subject  the  consideration 
that  it  deserves.  While  the  outline,  proper  names  and  a 
few  Scriptural  expressions,  as  "And  it  came  to  pass/* 
etc.,  are  undoubtedly  Spaulding's,  the  dress,  with  its  frills 
and  flounces  of  verbosity,  redundancy  and  repetition, 
comes  from  the  dressmaking  establishment  of  Sidney 
Rigdon. 

3.  It  is  further  objected  that  the  Book  of  Mormon 
is  not  written  either  in  the  style  of  Rigdon  or  that  of 
Smith,  hence  that  it  must  have  come  from  a  higher 
source  and  must  be  divine.  On  this  point,  Elder  George 
Reynolds  says : 

It  is  not  written  in  the  language  of  either  Joseph  Smith  or 
Sidney  Rigdon.  If  we  compare  the  revelations  given  through 
Joseph  Smith  at  the  time  the  plates  were  being  translated,  we 
find  an  altogether  different  diction;  or  let  us  compare  it  with 
the  Lectures  on  Faith  in  the  Book  of  Doctrine  and  Covenants 
and  then  with  the  acknowledged  writings  of  Sidney  Rigdon,  and 
we  shall  find  there  is  nothing  common  in  any  of  these  with  the 
peculiarities  of  grammatical  construction  and  verbal  idiosyn- 
crasies of  the  Book  of  Mormon. — Myth  of  the  Manuscript  Found, 
PP.  38,  39- 

But  I  am  not  so  sure  of  this.  In  come  respects  the 
style  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  may  differ  from  the  style 
of  Smith's  revelations,  the  difference  being  due  to  the 
respective  character  of  each,  one  being  mainly  historic, 
the  other  mainly  prophetic.  But,  how  about  Rigdon? 
His  style  is  described  to  have  been  "eloquent"  and  "en- 
thusiastic," just  such  a  style  as  would  abound  in  verbosity 


174  THE   TRUE  ORIGIN   OF 

and  redundancy  of  speech.1  Besides  being  a  backwoods 
preacher  of  those  times  when  revival  excitement  ran 
high,  he  undoubtedly  employed  the  hackneyed  expressions 
of  the  backwoods  revivalist.  Such  Book  of  Mormon  ex- 
pressions, therefore,  as  "everlastingly  too  late,"  "did  sing 
redeeming  love,"  "experienced  a  change  of  heart"  and 
"lay  down  the  weapons  of  your  rebellion,"  strongly  im- 
press us  as  Rigdonisms,  and  confine  the  production  of 
the  Book  of  Mormon  to  that  period  in  the  world's  his- 
tory when  such  expressions  were  in  common  use. 

THE   CHARACTER  OF  THE   BOOK  OF   MORMON. 

The  doctrinal  character  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  is 
made  a  further  objection  to  its  Spaulding  authorship,  it 
being  claimed  that  it  smacks  more  of  "Campbellism"  than 
it  does  of  Presbyterianism. 

The  doctrinal  portions  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  are  not  those 
that  one  would  expect  from  a  retired  clergyman  of  the  Presby- 
terian school.  They  begin  with  the  history  and  are  intimately 
interwoven  with  it  from  first  to  last;  and  some  of  the  cardinal 
features  of  the  Presbyterian  Confession  of  Faith  are  discarded. 
A  Baptist  writer,  Professor  Whitsitt,  in  a  lecture  delivered  be- 
fore a  Baptist  Pastors'  Conference,  and  published  in  the  Western 
Recorder,  takes  the  ground  that  the  Book  of  Mormon  was  writ- 
ten in  the  direct  interest  of  the  Campbellites,  and  in  support  of 
their  confession  of  faith,  that  "Jesus  is  the  Christ." — Joseph 
Smith,  in  "The  Spaulding  Story  Re-examined,"  p.  13. 

If  Mr.  Spaulding,  a  Congregational  (or  Presbyterian)  min- 
ister, wrote  the  book,  he  would  have  filled  it  with  his  doctrine 
instead  of  advocating  in  it  such  doctrines  as  are  found  in  the 
book,  many  of  which  are  in  no  sense  Congregational,  but  rather 
tin-Congregational. — W.  W.  Blair,  in  "Joseph  the  Seer,"  p.  174. 

But  it  has  never  been  claimed  that  Spaulding's  ro- 

1  Hayden  says  of  Rigdon:  "His  notion  was  graceful,  his  language 
copious,  fluent  in  utterance,  with  articulation  clear  and  musical." — History 
of  the  Disciples,  p.  192. 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  175 

mance  was  a  religious  romance.  It  was  purely  an  histor- 
ical account  of  a  fictitious  people,  and  to  this  all  of  his 
relatives  and  acquaintances  agree.  The  religious  part 
was  added  by  Sidney  Rigdon,  who,  from  1824  to  1830, 
was  a  colaborer  with  Alexander  Campbell,  Walter 
Scott  and  Adamson  Bentley,  in  the  great  Restoration 
movement,  hence  the  points  of  "Campbellism,"  so- 
called,  which  appear.  Another  thing  to  be  taken  into 
consideration  is  that  Solomon  Spaulding,  at  this  time,  was 
neither  a  Presbyterian  nor  a  "Campbellite,"  but  a  skeptic, 
and  so  if  he  had  any  religious  views  at  all,  they  must 
have  been  antagonistic  to  Christianity.  All  that  the  re- 
ligious character  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  proves  is  that 
it  was  revamped  from  the  "Manuscript  Found"  after 
Rigdon  had  become  familiar  with  the  doctrine  of  bap- 
tism for  the  remission  of  sins  and  other  points  of  the- 
ology as  held  by  the  Campbells. 

SMITH'S  INABILITY  TO  PRODUCE  THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON. 

It  is  denied  that  Joseph  Smith  could,  in  any  way,  have 
produced  the  Book  of  Mormon,  and,  as  it  was  above  his 
ability,  it  is  claimed  that  it  must  have  come  from  God. 
Mr.  Blair  says : 

That  Joseph  Smith,  without  the  inspiration  of  God,  could 
write  that  book,  abounding  as  it  does  in  the  most  accurate  items 
of  history,  declaring  improbable  historical  facts,  facts  which  have 
since  been  fully  attested  by  the  antiquarian  and  the  geologist: 
disseminating  a  system  of  morals  and  religion  that  challenges 
the  criticism,  and  that  is  worthy  of  the  admiration  of  the  race 
and  publishing  a  series  of  prophecies  the  most  important  and 
startling,  many  of  which  are  being  fulfilled  under  our  own  ob- 
servation— that  he  could  do  such  a  work,  under  such  conditions, 
it  would  be  far  more  difficult  to  believe,  than  to  believe  what  he 
claims,  viz.,  the  guidance  and  inspiration  of  God. — Joseph  the 
Seer,  p.  175. 

Let  us,  to  start  with,  take  a  look  at  the  remarkable 

(13) 


176  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

things  which  Mr.  Blair  refers  to  as  proof  that  Smith  was 
under  the  guidance  and  inspiration  of  God. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  claimed  that  he  produced  a 
book  which  abounds  in  the  most  accurate  items  of  his- 
tory, many  of  which  have  since  been  fully  attested  by  the 
antiquarian  and  the  geologist.  This  statement  is  suf- 
ficient to  raise  a  smile.  Is  a  book  which  says  that  Christ 
was  to  be  "born  at  Jerusalem"  (Alma  5:2)  historically 
accurate?  And  is  a  book  which  stands  in  open  conflict 
with  the  great  facts  pertaining  to  the  ancient  inhabitants 
of  America,  as  revealed  by  archaeological  research,  to  be 
trusted  as  coming  from  God?  I  have  proved  conclu- 
sively a  score  or  more  of  connections  between  the  Book 
of  Mormon  and  archaeological  science,1  and  yet  we  re- 
peatedly hear,  in  spite  of  these  proofs  to  the  contrary, 
that  the  claims  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  have  been  fully 
confirmed  "by  the  antiquarian  and  the  geologist"! 

As  for  the  morality  of  the  Book  of  Mormon,  it  proves 
nothing  as  to  its  inspiration.  Thousands  of  books  teach 
good  morals  without  being  inspired.  Such  books  as 
"Pilgrim's  Progress,"  by  Bunyan;  "In  His  Steps,"  by 
Sheldon,  and  "What  a  Young  Man  Ought  to  Know," 
by  Stall,  are  morally  uplifting  to  a  greater  degree  than 
the  Book  of  Mormon,  and  yet  their  authors  would  hoot 
at  the  suggestion  that  they  were  inspired  to  write  them. 
The  moral  light  which  shines  from  the  pages  of  the 
Book  of  Mormon  is  reflected  from  the  Bible.  It  has  not 
given  the  world  a  single  moral  truth  that  it  did  not  have 
in  the  Christian  Scriptures  before  it  appeared. 

Lastly,  Smith's  prophecies  or  revelations  are  decidedly 
weak  in  proving  that  he  was  under  the  guidance  and  in- 
spiration of  God.  The  honest  and  virtuous  mind  can 

aSee  my  "Cumorah  Revisited." 


THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON  177 

have  but  little  confidence  in  a  prophet  whose  guiding 
spirit  speaks  of  an  individual  as  "my  servant  John  C. 
Bennett,"  and  promises  to  accept  his  work  if  he  con- 
tinues (Doc.  and  Cov.,  107:6),  when,  at  the  same  time, 
he  was  "a  very  mean  .nan"  and  a  wife  deserter,  having 
"a  wife  and  two  or  three  children  in  McConnelsville, 
Morgan  County,  Ohio"  (Church  History,  Vol.  II.,  p. 
585).  Either  the  Mormon  god  connived  at  wife  desertion 
in  defiance  of  Matt.  19:5,  or  else  he  was  ignorant  in 
1841  of  what  Bennett  did  in  1838. 

So,  whether  you  take  up  the  Book  of  Mormon  as  a 
history  or  a  code  of  morals,  or  consider  the  prophecies 
of  Joseph  Smith,  you  will  find  nothing  so  remarkable  that 
it  would  be  above  the  ability  of  the  "Gold  Bible  Com- 
pany." 

But,  turning  now  to  the  real  part  which  Smith  played 
in  the  imposture,  we  find  that  it  would  not  require  more 
than  a  young  man  of  his  age  and  education,  and  of  that 
time,  was  able  to  perform.  His  sole  work  was,  first,  to 
play  the  prophet,  and,  secondly,  to  read  off  to  Cowdery, 
from  behind  the  sheet,  "syllable  by  syllable  and  word  by 
word,"  what  Rigdon  had  already  written  down.  And 
this  he  did,  according  to  Whitmer,  in  a  most  bungling 
manner,  having  to  spell  some  of  the  words  out,  letter 
by  letter.  To  claim  that  he  had  to  be  inspired  for  such 
a  procedure,  is  an  insult  to  common  sense. 

THE   CHALLENGE   TO   PRODUCE   THE    MANUSCRIPT. 

But  perhaps  the  flimsiest  objection  that  has  ever  been 
raised  against  this  theory  is  that  the  opponents  of  the 
Book  of  Mormon  have  never  been  able  to  produce  the 
manuscript  which  they  claim  was  its  original,  hence  that 
this  manuscript  never  existed.  As  early  as  1839,  Parley 
P.  Pratt,  through  the  New  York  Era,  tauntingly  said: 


178  THE   TRUE  ORIGIN  OP 

Now  if  there  is  such  a  manuscript  in  existence,  let  it  come 
forward  at  once  and  not  be  kept  in  the  dark. 

In  throwing  out  this  challenge,  Pratt  knew  perfectly 
well  that  he  was  safe,  and  every  Mormon  knows  the 
same  in  issuing  the  same  challenge  to-day,  for  the  "Gold 
Bible  Company"  would  have  had  a  smaller  degree  of 
common  sense  than  we  give  them  credit  for  if,  after  this 
manuscript  had  served  its  purpose,  they  had  carelessly 
let  it  lie  around  to  fall  into  Gentile  hands  and  thus  expose 
their  fraud. 

It  is  not  strange  that  Mormons  would  take  advantage 
of  such  an  objection,  and  grasp  at  it  as  a  drowning  man 
would  at  a  straw,  in  order  to  save  their  failing  cause,  but 
the  incomprehensible  thing  is  that  some  anti-Mormon 
writers,  who  have  rejected  the  Spaulding  theory,  have 
also  thrown  out  this  challenge  to  the  members  of  their 
own  party,  and  at  the  inability  of  the  latter  to  produce 
the  manuscript  have  derisively  declared  that  "the  entire 
theory  connecting  Sidney  Rigdon  and  the  Spaulding  ro- 
mance with  Joseph  Smith  in  originating  the  Book  of 
Mormon  must  be  abandoned."  Rev.  D.  H.  Bays,  who 
for  twenty-seven  years  was  an  elder  in  the  Reorganized 
Church,  and  who,  after  his  apostasy,  wrote  his  "Doc- 
trines and  Dogmas  of  Mormonism,"  in  a  rather  caustic 
letter  to  A.  T.  Schroeder,1  then  of  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah, 
and  dated  at  Battle  Creek,  Michigan,  September  7,  1899, 
demands : 

If  "three  manuscripts"  ever  existed,  why  not  produce  the 
evidence  to  prove  it?  Why  not  induce  that  library  of  "over  one 
thousand  books  and  pamphlets"  to  yield  up  some  of  its  hidden 
treasures  of  knowledge  upon  this  point,  and  settle  this  mooted 
question  once  for  all?  Mormonism  for  more  than  half  a  century 

1  Mr.  Schroeder,  later,  ably  refuted  the  contentions  of  Mr.  Bays  in  hit 
"The  Origin  of  the  Book  of  Mormon  Re-examined,"  etc. 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  179 

has  been  demanding  the  production  of  the  "Manuscript  Found," 
that  it  might  be  compared  with  the  Book  of  Mormon. — Josephite 
"Journal  of  History,"  January,  1909,  p.  93. 

He  then  sums  up  his  arguments  against  the  Spaulding 
theory  in  the  following  astounding  propositions: 

1.  The    existence   of   a   second   manuscript   is   assumed,   not 
proved. 

2.  If  such  manuscript  really  existed,  no  proof  is  offered  to 
show  the   "absolute  identity"   of  the  names   with  those  in  the 
Book  of  Mormon. 

It  is  surprising  to  rne  now,  after  once  having  sided 
with  Mr.  Bays  in  his  theory  of  the  Cowdery-Smith  origin 
of  the  Book  of  Mormon,  that  a  gentleman,  so  familiar 
with  the  history  and  evidence  of  the  present  controversy, 
as  he  claims  to  have  been,  should  take  his  stand  upon  two 
such  baseless  propositions  as  these. 

First,  the  existence  cf  Spaulding's  "second  manu- 
script" is  not  assumed,  but  proved — proved  by  the  testi- 
mony of  eleven  witnesses,  the  genuineness  of  which  testi- 
mony is  admitted  both  by  the  Brighamite,  Roberts,  and 
the  Josephite,  Smith.  As  these  gentlemen,  and  no  others, 
have  ever  shown  that  our  eleven  witnesses  lied  in  the 
testimonies  which  it  is  admitted  they  gave,  these  testi- 
monies stand  as  proving  that  the  "second  manuscript"  of 
Spaulding  really  existed.  And  yet  Bays  overlooked  this 
fact! 

Secondly,  how  Mr.  Bays  could  say  that  no  proofs  have 
ever  been  offered  to  show  the  "absolute  identity"  of  the 
names  in  this  "second  manuscript"  with  those  in  the 
Book  of  Mormon,  when  eight  of  these  admittedly  genuine 
testimonies  had  been  before  the  world  for  sixty-six  years 
certifying  to  this  very  fact,  is  also  beyond  the  limits  of 
human  understanding. 

Mr.  Bays'  whole  argument,  then,  falls  in  the  face  of 


180  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OP 

the  eleven  testimonies  which  we  have  already  given  in 
Chapters  VI.  and  VII. 

The  demand  to  produce  Spaulding's  second  manu- 
script suggests  the  following  illustration:  Jones  steals  a 
hog  from  Brown.  Eleven  of  Brown's  friends  see  the 
hog  in  Jones'  pen  and  identify  it  as  belonging  to  Brown. 
Jones  takes  the  hog  to  White  and  they  kill  and  eat  it. 
After  the  hog  is  all  devoured,  Brown  has  Jones  arrested 
for  the  crime  and  introduces  his  eleven  witnesses  to 
prove  his  guilt.  But  the  justice  decides  that,  as  the  hog 
can  not  be  produced,  Jones  is  innocent. 

Now  for  the  application :  Rigdon  steals  a  manuscript 
from  Spaulding  and,  with  Smith's  assistance,  revamps  it 
into  the  Book  of  Mormon,  after  which  he  destroys  it,  as 
no  doubt  he  did.  Eleven  witnesses  testify  to  the  identity, 
in  historical  outline  and  proper  names,  of  Spaulding's 
manuscript  with  the  Book  of  Mormon,  but  Rev.  D.  H. 
Bays  and  the  Mormons  demand  that,  as  the  Spaulding 
manuscript  can  not  be  produced,  the  case  against  Rigdon 
be  dismissed  and  he  be  adjudged  not  guilty! 

THE   CHARACTERS  OF   HURLBURT  AND  HOWE. 

It  is  charged  that  the  characters  of  Hurlburt  and 
Howe,  who  secured  the  testimonies  of  eight  of  the  eleven 
witnesses  which  we  have  given,  were  so  corrupt  that 
these  testimonies  are  discredited  thereby.  Elder  E.  L. 
Kelley  says: 

Do  you  blame  me,  then,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  for  stating 
before  you  I  cannot  take  as  evidence  anything  that  has  passed 
through  such  hands  as  Mr.  Hurlburt  and  Howe,  unless  I  have 
the  original  statement  to  compare,  or  it  can  be  proven  outside 
in  some  way  that  these  statements  that  he  has  been  referring 
to — but  never  reading  in  full  to  you — are  unaltered  a±id  genuine? 
Here  is  where  he  gets  his  John  Spaulding,  Martha  Spaulding, 
Henry  Lake,  John  Miller,  Aaron  Wright,  Oliver  Smith  and 


THE  BOOK   OF   MORMON  181 

Nahum  Howard.  Do  you  want  me  to  swallow  their  contra- 
dictory, self -accusing,  wholly  improbable,  malicious  falsehoods, 
rather  than  accept  the  truth  of  God?  Could  anything  pure  and 
immaculate  have  passed  through  that  sewer  of  filth  and  come 
out  worthy  of  the  palate  of  decent  men  and  women? — Braden 
and  Kelley  Debate  (first  ed.),  pp.  US,  116.  BfiDCTOft  Llbr?5 

The  charge  that  is  made  against  Hurlburt  is  that  he 
was  cut  off  from  the  church  for  immorality,  and  against 
Howe,  that  he  was  jealous  because  his  wife  and  sister 
united  with  the  Mormons. 

But,  suppose  that  both  of  these  charges  are  true,  how 
does  that  affect  the  testimonies  of  John  Spaulding  and  the 
rest,  since  it  is  admitted  by  the  highest  Mormon  authority 
that  these  testimonies  are  genuine?  Hurlburt  and  Howe 
may  have  possessed  characters  as  black  as  midnight,  but 
if  the  statements  they  secured  were  actually  made  and 
signed  as  represented,  how  has  their  own  individual  cor- 
ruption affected  them  ?  With  the  admissions  of  genuine- 
ness which  their  own  leading  men  have  made,  it  ap- 
pears very  inconsistent  for  the  Mormon  churches  to 
attempt  to  discredit  the  Conneaut  testimonies  by  the  poor 
characters  of  men  who  never  made  them. 

Mr.  Kelley  did  with  these  testimonies  just  what  all 
Mormons  do  and  have  to  do:  he  issued  a  blustering  de- 
nial and  brought  out  no  proof  to  support  the  same,  simply 
calling  them  "contradictory,  self -accusing,  wholly  im- 
probable, malicious  falsehoods."  Let  the  reader  com- 
pare this  charge  with  the  statements  themselves,  and  he 
will  see  how  far  it  is  from  the  truth. 

As  for  the  accusations  against  Hurlburt  and  Howe, 
they  may  have  been  guilty  of  the  things  charged  and 
they  may  not.  The  policy  of  Mormonism  has  always 
been  to  attempt  to  blacken  the  character  of  every  man 
who  has  ever  openly  and  successfully  opposed  it.  Howe's 


182  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

book  is,  probably,  the  most  important  book  ever  written 
against  Mormonism,  as  it  was  the  first  and  contains  so 
much  original  testimony  that  stands  as  a  huge  mountain 
in  the  way  of  the  onward  advance  of  Mormonism.  Un- 
able to  meet  and  overthrow  this  testimony,  the  Mormons 
turn  and  vent  their  spleen  on  the  devoted  heads  of  its 
compilers.  Other  men,  also,  besides  Hurlburt,  were  guilty 
of  seduction  in  the  Mormon  Church,  and  among  them 
Smith  himself,  but  they  were  never  excommunicated. 

SUPPOSED  CONTRADICTIONS  IN  THE  "MANUSCRIPT  FOUND** 
TO   THE   BOOK   OF   MORMON. 

It  is  claimed,  further,  that  in  the  descriptions  of  the 
purported  "Manuscript  Found"  which  exist,  certain  con- 
tradictions to  the  Book  of  Mormon  appear. 

1.  It  is  said  that  the  "Manuscript  Found"  is  declared 
to  have  described  an  idolatrous  people  instead  of  a  people 
who  worshiped  God  and  obeyed  his  laws  as  the  Book  of 
Mormon  describes.    This  objection  is  based  upon  a  ques- 
tion and  its  answer  found  in  the  Haven-Davison  inter- 
view as  published  in  the  Quincy  Whig  of  1839. 

Q.  Does  the  manuscript  describe  an  idolatrous  or  a  religious 
people  ? 

A.  An  idolatrous  people. 

But  here,  again,  we  have  the  same  old  play  on  Mrs. 
Davison's  mistake  of  confounding  the  trunk  manuscript 
with  the  "Manuscript  Found."  The  former  does  describe 
an  idolatrous  people,  the  aborigines,  but  it  also  describes 
a  Christian  colony  which  came  from  Rome.  The  latter 
described  a  company  of  Jews  that  came  from  Jerusalem, 
and,  while  only  incidentally  religious,  probably  repre- 
sented them  as  worshipers  of  their  Jehovah. 

2.  It  is  objected,  further,  that,  according  to  the  Con- 
neaut  testimonies,  the  "Manuscript  Found"  described  the 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  183 

Jewish  colony  as  the  lost  tribes  of  Israel,  while  the  Book 
of  Mormon  makes  them  out  to  be  only  of  the  tribe  of 
Joseph.  After  giving,  on  page  46  of  his  "Myth  of  the 
Manuscript  Found,"  the  claim  that  Spaulding's  "Man- 
uscript Found"  gave  an  account  of  the  immigration  of 
the  lost  tribes  to  America,  Reynolds  says  on  page  47 : 

It  is  well  to  remark  that  the  Book  of  Mormon  makes  but 
very  few  references  to  the  ten  tribes,  and  in  those  few,  it  directly, 
plainly  and  unequivocally  states  that  the  American  Indians  are 
not  the  descendants  of  the  ten  tribes,  and  further,  that  the  ten 
tribes  never  were  in  America,  or  any  part  of  it,  during  any 
portion  of  their  existence  as  a  nation.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Book  of  Mormon  as  directly  informs  us  from  whom  the  abo- 
rigines, or  natives  of  this  continent,  are  descended.  This  being 
the  case,  how  is  it  possible  for  the  two  works  to  be  identical? 

To  this  objection  I  reply  as  follows:  The  theory  of 
the  Book  of  Mormon  is  so  closely  akin  to  the  theory  of 
the  origin  of  the  American  Indians  in  the  lost  tribes,  as 
advocated  before  and  about  1830  by  such  writers  as 
Adair,  Boudinot,  Smith  and  Priest,  that  it  would  be  very 
easy  for  the  witnesses,  who  had  not  heard  the  "Manu- 
script Found"  read  for  twenty  years,  to  confound  one 
with  the  other.  Even  to-day  we  hear  intelligent  people, 
some  of  whom  have  read  the  Book  of  Mormon,  un- 
thoughtedly  speak  of  it  as  a  history  of  the  lost  tribes.* 
The  important  thing  is  that  the  writers  of  both  romances 
have  the  ancient  inhabitants  (Israelites)  coming  from  the 
city  of  Jerusalem  and  under  the  leadership  of  Lehi  and 
Nephi. 

•  As  an  example  of  this  common  mistake,  see  "Nortk  Americans  of 
Yesterday,"  p.  403,  by  Frederick  S.  Dellenbaugh,  an  employe  of  our 
National  Museum  and  an  accomplished  archaeologist,  where  he  says:  "Cer- 
tain resemblances  between  the  myths  of  the  Amerinds  and  those  of  the 
Israelites  increased  the  belief  that  the  American  race  is  the  Lost  Tribes. 
The  Mormons  specially  hold  to  thit  opinion.  But  there  i$  positively  no 
ground  for  the  belief." 


184  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OP 

3.  The  Rev.  Abner  Jackson,  in  his  testimony,  says 
that  Spaulding  begins  "their  [Nephites']  departure  from 
Palestine,  or  Judea,  then  up  through  Asia,  points  out 
their  exposures,  hardships  and  sufferings,  also  their  dis- 
putes and  quarrels,  especially  when  they  built  their  craft 
for  passing  over  the  straits."  This  is  objected  to  as  being 
entirely  different  from  the  migrational  account  in  the 
Book  of  Mormon,  which  has  the  Nephites  crossing  over 
the  Pacific  Ocean  and  landing  upon  the  coast  of  South 
America.  This  objection  may  be  met  in  several  ways: 
First,  it  may  have  been  according  to  the  original  plot  of 
the  "Manuscript  Found,"  as  heard  read  by  Jackson,  to 
have  the  Nephites  enter  America  via  Behring  Strait, 
and  this  feature  may  have  been  afterwards  changed  by 
Spaulding  himself;  or  it  may  have  been  changed  by  Rig- 
don  still  later;  or,  what  seems  more  probable,  Jackson, 
who  was  a  very  aged  man  at  the  time  that  he  made  his 
statement,  may  have  confused  the  migrational  account  in 
the  "Manuscript  Found"  with  the  theory,  so  widely  held 
when  he  was  a  boy,  that  the  lost  tribes  entered  America 
by  way  of  Alaska.  The  latter  was  the  theory  of  many 
investigators  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

RECAPITULATION. 

In  conclusion,  I  wish  to  sum  up  the  points  which  I 
have  endeavored  to  establish  in  the  preceding  pages : 

i.  THE  "MANUSCRIPT  STORY." 

I.  About  1809,  Solomon  Spaulding,  a  retired  Con- 
gregational or  Presbyterian  preacher,  living  at  Conneaut, 
Ohio,  wrote  a  small  manuscript  which  he  claimed  to  have 
found  written  in  the  Latin  language  on  twenty-eight  rolls 
of  parchment  in  an  artificial  cave  on  Conneaut  Creek, 
and  which  purported  to  be  the  historical  account  of  a 


THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON  185 

party  of  Romans  who  were  thrown  upon  our  shores  in 
the  time  of  Constantine  the  Great. 

2.  This  manuscript  he  abandoned  and  placed  in  an 
"old  hair  trunk,"  which  at  his  death  in  1816  was  taken 
to  the  home  of  his  wife's  brother,  W.  H.  Sabine,  of 
Onondaga  Valley,  New  York. 

3.  In  1820,  this  trunk,  with  the  manuscript,  was  re- 
moved to  Hartwick,  New  York,  where  it  was  later  placed 
in  the  care  of  Jerome  Clark,  a  cousin  of  Mrs.  Spaulding, 
now  Mrs.  Davison. 

4.  The  manuscript  remained  in  the  "old  hair  trunk" 
until  1834,  when  Dr.  Hurlburt,  from  Ohio,  with  the  per- 
mission of  Mrs.  Spaulding-Davison,  took  it  to  Paines- 
ville,  of  that  State,  and  turned  it  over  to  E.  D.  Howe, 
author  of  "Mormonism  Unveiled." 

5.  It  was  in  the  possession  of  E.  D.  Howe  until  1839 
or  1840,  when  it  was  inadvertently  transferred  to  L.  L. 
Rice,  who  bought  Howe's  printing  establishment.     Rice 
took  it  to  Columbus,  Ohio,  where  for  years  he  was  the 
State  printer. 

6.  After  this,  Rice  removed  to  Honolulu,  Hawaiian 
Islands,  and,  though  unaware  of  it,  carried  this  manu- 
script with  him.    In  1884  it  was  accidentally  discovered 
by  him,  and  later  placed  in  the  Oberlin  College  Library, 
Oberlin,  Ohio. 

7.  The  Mormons  have  published  copies  of  it,  which 
they  erroneously  entitle  "Manuscript  Found." 

ii.  THE  "MANUSCRIPT  FOUND." 

I.  In  1809,  after  he  had  thrown  aside  his  "Manu- 
script Story,"  Spaulding  began  a  new  romance  in  the 
Scriptural  style,  which  he  entitled  "Manuscript  Found." 
This  romance,  which  he  often  read  to  his  neighbors,  pur- 
ported to  be  the  history  of  a  Jewish  colony  that  came  to 


186  THE   TRUE   ORIGIN   OF 

our  shores  in  early  times  under  the  leadership  of  Lehi 
and  Nephi. 

2.  In  1812,  Spaulding  removed  to  Pittsburgh,  Penn- 
sylvania,   for   the  purpose   of   having  this   manuscript 
printed,  and  placed  it  in  the  printing  establishment  of 
Robert  Patterson. 

3.  In   1814,  Spaulding  left  Pittsburgh  and  went  to 
Amity,  Pennsylvania,  where  he  died  in  October,  1816. 

4.  While  Spaulding's  relations  with  Patterson  existed, 
the  latter  had  in  his  employ  a  young  man  by  the  name 
of  J.  Harrison  Lambdin,  who,  in  turn,  had  a  friend  by 
the  name  of  Sidney  Rigdon,  who  lived  a  few  miles  in  the 
country  on  his  mother's  farm,  but  who  frequently  lounged 
around  the  printing-office. 

5.  Before  Spaulding's  death,  his  manuscript  came  up 
missing,  and  he  told  two  intimate  acquaintances,  Joseph 
Miller  and  Dr.  Cephas  Dodd,  that  he  suspected  Rigdon 
of  the  theft. 

6.  In  1822  or  1823,  and  again  in  1826  or  1827,  Rigdon 
exhibited  such  a  manuscript  to  Dr.  John  Winter  and  Mrs. 
Amos  Dunlap,  his  wife's  niece,  which  he  told  the  former 
had  been  written  by  a  man  by  the  name  of  Spaulding. 

7.  Between  the  years  1826  and  1830  he  told  Adamson 
Bentley,  Alexander  Campbell,  Darwin  Atwater  and  Dr. 
Rosa  a  number  of  startling  things,  among  them  that  a 
golden  book  had  been  dug  up  in  New  York  which  gave  an 
account  of  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  this  continent  and 
stated  that  the  Christian  religion  had  been  preached  here 
in  early  times  just  as  it  was  then  being  preached  by 
Campbell  and  his  coadjutors. 

8.  During  this  time,  Rigdon  was  seen  at  Palmyra, 
New  York,  or  vicinity,  at  three  different  times :  in  March, 
1827;  in  the  fall  of  1827,  and  again  in  the  summer  of 
1828. 


THE  BOOK   OF  MORMON  187 

9.  In  the  late  fall  of  1830,  Rigdon  was  converted  to 
Mormonism,  after  only  a  few  days'  investigation,  and 
later  became  one  of  its  most  prominent  leaders. 

These,  I  believe,  are  the  links  in  that  chain  of  evi- 
dence which,  when  followed  from  the  Book  of  Mormon, 
leads  us  directly  to  Spaulding's  "Manuscript  Found." 

THE  END. 


BOOKS 

Exposing  Mormonism 

By  CHARLES  A.  SHOOK 
CUMORAH  REVISITED 

doth.  12mo.  589  pp.    Price,  postpaid,  $1.50 

This  book  has  been  written  to  disprove  the  historical  claims 
of  the  Book  of  Mormon  and  the  Mormons.  Its  author  shows 
that  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  the  American  continent  differed 
racially,  culturally,  religiously,  linguistically  and  socially  from  the 
peoples  described  in  the  Book  of  Mormon.  Every  important 
argument  made  by  Mormon  writers  and  based  upon  American 
archaeology  is  carefully  considered  and  its  falsity  exposed. 
This  book  is  a  veritable  thesaurus  of  information  for  the  anti- 
Mormon  polemic. 

THE  TRUE  ORIGIN  OF  MORMON 
POLYGAMY 

Cloth,  12mo.    Price,  postpaid,  $1.50 

The  author  in  his  preface  says:  "While  they  strongly  op- 
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wives."  This  work  enables  the  reader  to  "speak  with  authority." 

By  S.  W.  TRAUM 

MORMONISM  AGAINST    ITSELF 

Cloth.  12 mo.    Price,  postpaid,  $1.00 

This  is  just  the  book  for  the  busy  man  to  have,  in  order  to 
meet  and  defeat  this  false  teaching. 

"Every  one  who  doubts  the  claims  of  Mormonism  should 
secure  a  copy  and  give  it  a  faithful  study." — Geo.  Hussey. 

THE  STANDARD  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 
CINCINNATI,  O. 


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